Dr Sanil Singh, Head of UKZN’s Biomedical Resource Unit and a registered veterinarian, has been re-appointed as Chair of Mitchell Park Trust – the custodians for all educational and conservational programmes and activities that take place at the leisurely Mitchell Park and Jameson Park in Morningside, Durban.
The Trust raises funds for cultivating regional and international links to other similar institutions, and ensures the continued maintenance of the standard of excellence that has become synonymous with the complex as one of Durban’s heritage sites.
Commencing in his fourth term as Chair of the Trust, Singh said the facility’s park and zoological gardens were international attractions that had a huge role to play in bringing back a lost ‘cultural education experience’ for today’s urban youth. He said the Trust had plans to build an educational centre with audio-visual facilities to ensure all visitors left having had an authentic experience.
Currently acting as Manager for Technical Services at UKZN’s School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, Singh continues his research on both companion and laboratory animals. His present doctoral studies are on animal feeds and its mycotoxin content.
Singh said he was passionate about veterinary science and helping communities around him. He runs a donor-funded community veterinary outreach programme for peri-urban communities in Durban under the guidance of the Ramakrishna Centre, South Africa.