Steve Pointing

Senior Veterinary Officer

I qualified as a vet in 1979 from Bristol University and after a couple of years in general practice returned to University in Edinburgh to study for an MSc in Tropical Animal Health and Production. I then spent the next 2 years as a veterinary officer in North Yemen where I encountered a wide range of exotic animal diseases including foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, rabies and sheep and goat pox.

After a few years back in England working in general practice and for a short period with MAFF I returned to the Tropics and spent 4 years in Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Here I carried out a mixture of clinical and government statutory veterinary work. I particularly enjoyed working with the ni-Vanuatu smallholders and helping them to nurture their fledgling beef industry. After a year spent working with MAF in New Zealand I returned to the UK where again I worked in both private practice and for the State Veterinary Service.

I first came to the Falkland Islands in September 1998 as Senior Veterinary Officer and enjoyed the experience so much that I stayed until 2006. After 18 months working back in the UK I decided that I missed the Falkland Islands too much and returned to my old job.

The work here is very varied and is a nice mix of the clinical and the regulatory. No two days are the same; one day I’ll be consulting or operating in the clinic and on the next I might be inspecting Falkland Island registered fishing vessels prior to them exporting their catch back to the EU. The veterinary section of the Department of Agriculture is the recognised competent authority for the export of both meat and fishery products from the Falkland Islands to the EU. This work can be both challenging and frustrating but it is never dull.

In my spare time I like to play short tennis and bridge. I am also fond of cooking, walking, reading and watching films. I also have a wonderful family (a wife and three children) back in the UK who, although distant, are constantly in my thoughts.

Copyright © Department of Agriculture 2011
Falkland Islands Government