If you are a pet owner and live in Atlantic County, perhaps you have either heard of or taken your pets to Dr. Mark Newkirk or the offices he founded in Margate and Egg Harbor Township. While the Margate location closed in the early 2000s, Newkirk Family Veterinarians in Egg Harbor Township took its place. Even though Dr. Newkirk retired from working at his office a few years ago, he has not quite stopped his veterinarian practices. Now that he no longer works at his office in EHT, he travels out of the country to help endangered animals and abandoned pets with organizations like World Vets and the African Conservation Experience. He has recently visited Africa, Russia, Ukraine, and Thailand. Dr. Newkirk has been working with animals for nearly his entire life. When he was just 14 years old, he got a job at the Margate Animal Hospital, which he eventually took over. During his college years, as he stated, “...I wanted to actually be a zoo veterinarian back in the 1980s and did an externship at the Philadelphia Zoo. The problem in those days was zoos were designed for people and not for animals.” Nowadays, zoos are equipped with veterinarians for animal rehabilitation centers, but back then, zoos cared more about paying customers than the animals on display for their entertainment. Since no zoo offered what Dr. Newkirk was looking for, he returned to the Margate Animal Hospital. Now that he is retired, he returned to his passion as he said, “...I have the time, and… There are many volunteer programs in Africa and worldwide to work with these types of animals. So I kind of went back to my first love.” Dr. Newkirk travels out of the country for about four months each year to help animals. In South Africa, he has worked with various animal species. His favorites to work with are big cats working like lions and cheetahs. In South Africa, there are lion and cheetah rescues and reserves. These big cats have had their land encroached on by humans, who have turned much of the country into farmland. Many remaining natural areas are fenced off, which cannot always contain them. Now, there is an issue of lions and cheetahs being shot by farmers who are trying to protect their livestock. Dr. Newkirk has also worked with elephants. In Thailand, he worked at an elephant rescue center and conservation reserve. In South Africa, he helped organizations handle the issue of overpopulation. While endangered, they overrun Kruger National Park and find their way onto farmland, often destroying crops. Dr. Newkirk has also volunteered at Hluhuwe-iMfolozi Park with research on wild dogs. He worked with researchers and veterinarians to study and help all different kinds of African Wild Dogs. He was there when the pack was getting so big that there was not enough prey. So Dr. Newkirk helped split the pack and transfer some dogs to other African parks. On top of helping organizations keep lion, cheetah, elephant, and wild dog populations a healthy size, Dr. Newkirk has also worked with rhinoceroses during his time in Africa. He has joined the fight against poaching rhinos. The organizations that Dr. Newkirk helps out at are all nonprofit.