World Bee Day: Meet Suzetta Cameron, veterinary alumna and original member of the British Bee Veterinary Association
For World Bee Day 2024, the ULVAA caught-up with alumna Suzetta Cameron (BVSc 1994), one of the original members of the British Bee Veterinary Association committee and current treasurer. Here, Suzetta shares an insight into how World Bee Day came about, the work of the British Bee Veterinary Association, and fellow Liverpool alumni who have inspired her throughout her veterinary career:
World Bee Day (recognised annually on 20th May) was started by the United Nations to increase awareness of the importance of bees as pollinators. Most of our crops and nearly 90% of flowering plants depend on pollinators such as bees, who are under increasingly under threat.
While beekeeping in the U.K. has traditionally occurred without much input from Veterinary Surgeons, a group of us came together in Bristol in 2015 with the aim of promoting awareness and education in bee health, disease, management, and research across the veterinary profession. This was the formation of the British Bee Veterinary Society (BBVA).
I qualified from the University of Liverpool in 1994, having also graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Zoology; exotic species have always been my interest! I spent five years at Rowe Vet Group in Wootton-Under-Edge where we were the vets responsible for Bristol Zoo and have always been lucky to work with more experienced exotics vets, such as Chris Artingstall (BVSc 1984) at Rowe Vet Group and Michael Stanford (BVSc 1987) at Birch Heath Vets.
One of the BBVA’s core objectives is to try and support vets and veterinary students find work placements or research positions related to bees. I completed the Masters in Wild Animal Health at The Institute of Zoology and the RVC in 2000, before travelling to Indonesian Borneo to work with Orangutans. Since 2001 I have worked at Birch Heath Vets in Tarporley, Cheshire. We are a small animal and exotics practice covering pet species and being the dedicated vets for Dudley Zoo. Our days are varied and endlessly interesting, seeing a full spectrum of animals, including invertebrates.
I continue to be actively involved with the BBVA as their treasurer, a role in which I learn constantly from much more knowledgeable beekeeping vets such as fellow committee members John Hill, Jan Dixon, Mark Johnston, Chris Palgrave, and John Carr in Australia.
Vets and non-vets (associates) can join the BBVA as individuals or as ‘Bee Friendly Practices’. This is an initiative that aims to promote habits we can all achieve to make our workplaces more bee friendly. For example, we encourage veterinary practices to plant a one meter-squared plot with flowering plants to attract pollinating bees. If each of the 5,000 plus U.K. veterinary practices did this to sustain visiting bees, together we can make a real difference: brightening up your premises and raising the profile of your practice at the same time.
Thank you, Suzetta, for helping us celebrate World Bee Day and our amazing global veterinary alumni community.
If you are interested in joining the efforts of the BBVA, please visit their website.
If you have a story to share with the ULVAA, we would love to hear from you at ulvaa@liv.ac.uk.