The Vet at the End of the Earth: Adventures with Animals in the South Atlantic

About this episode

Dr. Jonathan Hollins shares his experiences as a vet in the remote islands of the South Atlantic, highlighting the unique challenges and cultural aspects of his work.

The role of a resident vet in the remote islands of the Falklands, St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha encompasses many wonderful complexities: caring for the world’s oldest living land animal (a 200-year-old giant tortoise, denizen of the St. Helena governor’s lawn); pursuing mystery creatures and invasive microorganisms; relocating herds of reindeer; and rescuing animals in extraordinarily rugged landscapes, from subtropical cloud forests to volcanic cliff faces. Dr. Hollins’s tales of island vet life are not only full of ingenuity and astounding fauna—they are also steeped in the unique local cultures, history, and peoples of the islands, far from the hustle of continental life. Our guest is: Dr. Jonathan Hollins, who graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and has been a working vet for four decades. Since the mid-2000s, he has spent long periods as a senior vet overseas in the South Atlantic. He has written for the British national press and presented documentary features for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. He lives on St. Helena. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is an academic writing coach and editor. She is the producer and show host of the Academic Life…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Christina Gessler

Guest: Dr. Jonathan Hollins

Topics covered

• veterinary medicine
• island life
• animal care
• South Atlantic
• local cultures
• wildlife rescue

Keywords

• veterinarian
• Falklands
• St. Helena
• wildlife
• animal rescue
• island culture
• giant tortoise
• reindeer relocation
• microorganisms

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4

Books & works: The Vet at the End of the Earth

Places: Falklands, St. Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, British

More episodes of New Books in Animal Studies

• Christos Lynteris, "How Plague Got Rats: Mastering a Zoonotic Pandemic" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026) · May 30, 2026 · 49 min
• Kenneth G. Zysk, "South Asian Animal Divination: A Critical Anthology" (Brill, 2025) · May 14, 2026 · 41 min
• Sezai Ozan Zeybek, "Animals, Justice, and the Politics of Violence: Shared Struggles in Turkey" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) · March 9, 2026 · 41 min
• Anne Mendelson, "Spoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood" (Columbia UP, 2023) · February 22, 2026 · 1h 6m
• Josh Milburn, "Food, Justice, and Animals: Feeding the World Respectfully" (Oxford UP, 2023) · February 21, 2026 · 1h 16m
• Thomas Zeitzoff, "No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis" (Oxford UP, 2026) · February 19, 2026 · 58 min