Dr. Darren graduated from the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 2002 after first completing a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in Cape Town. He promptly moved back to Cape Town, where he worked in emergency, welfare, and regular small animal practices. Most of his experience was gained in welfare clinics, where the variety and complexity of cases proved his biggest source of learning and interest. It is also where Darren developed a special interest in surgery, especially orthopaedic surgery, and where he successfully repaired several hundred broken bones.
Darren also took part in multiple sterilisation campaigns for charities in under-served areas in South Africa. These saw him operating in all sorts of conditions, from backpacker garages on the green hills of the Transkei, to shipping container surgeries in some of the country’s biggest informal settlements. He estimates having desexed well over 10,000 animals in this time.