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She belongs among the most respected avian vets in the Czech Republic. She says that she can’t be called as an avian specialist because her education is general. In the past there was no possibility to be specialized. However, many breeders from the whole country visit her clinic and ask for advice.
You come from Slovakia. How did you get to Prague and start working here? Have you studied here?
Women mostly move at the place where their husbands live and that’s my case, too.
So you have studied in the Slovakia?
Yes, in Košice and for a part of my studies also in French Lyon as well.
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Inka Cockatoo (c) Jan Potucek
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Is there any difference in attitude to vet education in France and in the Czech Republic or Slovakia?
The difference is enormous, it was even at the time of my studies. In France they put emphasis on practice. The student was prepared to work with animals. In the Czech Republic the education was more theoretical. However, today it’s much better. Especially the Czech university in Brno improved a lot. Students learn about diseases of exotic animals as well. In the past, as for birds we could study just chickens, that was all.
You run a clinic in Prague. How did you start specializing in birds?
Officialy, I can’t be called an avian specialist as I have not reached the appropriate education. I can only say that I focus on bird diseases. I would have to arrange studying abroad which is impossible now as I have to work. It would be necessary to stop my job for 2 years. In the Czech Republic we should also have vet education specialized in birds in close future.
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Lubica Necasova shows one of the nestboxes. (c) Jan Potucek
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You have bred parrots also in the past or start later?
It depends. I had canaries, budgies etc. But I start breeding of larger parrots later, here in Prague.
My first large parrot was the Galah Cockatoo. Actually, I didn’t choose this species. At that time, on of my clients imported them from New Zealand. One bird wasn’t in good condition so he asked me to take it. I agreed and I paired it up with a female later. By the time I have bought more and more parrots and that’s why I start studying them more. I‘ve also passed an educational stay on Tenerife in Loro Parque where I have learned a lot. I was there for two times, always for 1-2 months. I also visit international conventions regularly. Possibilities of education in this field are really various today.
However, you need also to have money for this. I have never been in USA and I would like to go to local avian vets convention. Such trip costs about 4000 euro including air ticket and accomodation.
Maybe if you would have a talk there or find out something revolutionary…
Yes, then I’d have a better chance. At the beginning, even conventions in Europe were expensive for me. It takes place every second year always in diferent country. You have to pay for the air ticket and the fee. In Germany there is such foundation which supports vets from eastern countries and they offered me to pay me a part of expenses. For five or six years they have supported me. They are so kind that they would still pay it but I refused. There are other young vets who might need help.
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Festive Amazon (c) Jan Potucek
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And what about the educational stay in Loro Parque? Did you just request or..?
At that time, Alena Dolezalova from the magazine Papousci arranged this for me. She knew people from Loro Parque. For the second time I had also some contacts there so I arranged that by myself.
Is it paid?
You pay just for food and accomodation. It depends which vet is available at that moment. When I was there for the second time they already wanted a photo of every applicant. I’ve asked why they do this and if they choose applicants according to their appearance. They told me that once they accepted one completely tattooed guy with strange hairstyle. Then Mr. Kiessling met him in the park and was angry. That’s why they want to avoid such incidence again.
During your educational stay in Loro Parque. What all can you do there?
At that time, two very skillful vets were there. They won’t let you operate a parrot but you can watch the whole process and that’s how you get really useful experience.
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The Long-billed Corella is looking at the visitors.
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Did you have an opportunity to work there with the Spix’s Macaw?
I was present at all health issues which had been solved but we didn’t work with Spix’s. There were two of us – me and one colleague from Germany but she was more interested in lab stuff. The vet clinic in Loro Parque is not big enough for 3-4 interns. However, it’s sufficient for needs of the park.
Have you used experience from Loro Parque in your private facility later?
Not much. I didn’t like the way of feeding birds there. Absolutely perfect was the artificial incubation and hand rearing. There was one worker who still works in Loro Parque and she had incredible knowledge.
When we consider avian medicine, it still evolves. However, it seems that we still don’t know much about health of birds in comparison with cats or dogs – at least in the Czech Republic. Why is that? In USA the difference is not so huge.
USA is always one step ahead but it’s only the matter of money. Our market is not so big and vets can‘t be specialized so deeply.
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Lubica Necasova (c) Jan Potucek
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That’s what we have heard also from other czech vets. They can’t be specialized only in birds because it wouldn’t maintain them…
Maybe it would but it depends on your requirements – if you need 800 or 4000 euro monthly for living. You can’t work only with budgies and pets, you need to have bigger clients with many parrots like big breeders or traders. However, it can easily happen that they will stop breeding or trade with birds because of avian influenza, byrocracy, market, … When you have such clients then you don’t have enough time to be available in your clinic for pet owners. If you loose one or two big clients then you can get into the trouble. So specialization in avian medicine can be tricky but to my mind is possible.
Breeders also need to have confidence in you.
Yes and that’s what can take a very long time. When I started breeders mostly believed that birds which get seriously sick will die. The treatment was just wasting money to their mind. Why should they invest more money when they will loose the bird anyway? Fortunately, this attitude has changed. But it’s still not at the level of cats or dogs. In this case you can sit in your clinic, just do the basic medicine (vaccination, teeth cleaning, …) and it will maintain you. The Czech Republic is still a very good place for people who do business with all things related to animals because there are many pets…
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Title photo: (c) Jan Potucek, Ararauna.cz
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