Honorary members

Mrs. A. Meerman was appointed an honorary member of Archaeopteryx in 1989. Mrs. Meerman was the founder of our wonderful student association and has therefore been very important in the history of our association. She worked for a time at Veterinary Practice de Kraaijenhoff, where she worked with birds and exotic animals, among other things. She has served as an advisor to various institutions, such as Utrecht University and INHOLLAND University of Applied Sciences. She currently works as a zoonosis consultant at the NVWA.

More information follows!

More information follows!​

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Dr. Y.R.A. van Zeeland was appointed an honorary member of Archaeopteryx in 2014. Yvonne is a recognized European specialist in avian medicine. Among other roles, she has also served as president of the AAV. She is the faculty advisor to our student chapter, the bird working group. She assists this working group extensively with various activities and provides sound advice. Almost every year, Yvonne also helps by teaching the regular bird first aid course. As a result, students learn much more about how to treat birds in practice.

Prof. Dr. Peer Zwart was appointed an honorary member of Archaeopteryx in 1999. He is one of the founders of the medicine of birds and exotic animals. He has published hundreds of scientific articles on the most remarkable characteristics of exotic animal species. He has been an important part of our association since the beginning of Archaeopteryx, for example by writing articles for the Archaeopteryx Veterinaris. Furthermore, he is our advisor in the field of aquatic fauna and has provided us with a great deal of information, including through his thousands of histology slides.

Mr. P.S.J. Klaver was appointed an honorary member of Archaeopteryx in 2019. Peter graduated as a veterinarian in Utrecht in 1986, specializing in exotic animals and tropical veterinary medicine. He has also worked as a veterinarian in Africa and Saudi Arabia. After returning to the Netherlands, he worked as chief veterinarian at Artis, Amsterdam, for 13 years. Peter Klaver contributed to 400 radio programs at RTV-NH and approximately one hundred television programs, including Animal Planet and Dierenmanieren. Additionally, he is the author of the green "Pocket Dictionary of Veterinary Medicine". Currently, Peter works as a veterinarian in Dodewaard, where he treats dogs, cats, and exotic animals such as ferrets, rabbits, rodents, reptiles, and birds. Furthermore, his assistance is often sought for hobby pigs, park animals, and escaped animals. He is also an on-call/weekend veterinarian for Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen. On Thursday evenings, he can regularly be heard on Langs de Lijn en omstreken on NPO Radio 1 between 22:00 and 23:00. He makes a weekly YouTube video about his work, which can be found under the name "Peter Klaver vertelt". In addition to being an honorary member, he is also an advisor at Archaeopteryx and annually provides the famous blow dart course for our students.

Prof. Dr. G.M. Dorrestein was appointed an honorary member of Archaeopteryx in 2004. He was active in the founding of our association. In the 1980s, the only VBD education took place on Tuesday afternoons at 5:00 PM. These voluntary lectures were taught by lecturers from the Department of Pathology of Birds and Exotic Animals. One of the lead lecturers was Gerry Dorrestein; using beautiful slides and videos, he informed the students about the keeping and pathology of exotic animals. When the students wanted to establish an association to publish a magazine and organize excursions alongside these lectures, Archaeopteryx was immediately well-established and handled professionally thanks to the collaboration with Gerry Dorrestein, among others. In addition to the wealth of knowledge and connections he shared with us as a fledgling association, his substantive expertise also proved invaluable for the first issues of our association magazine, Archaeopteryx Veterinaris. Prof. Dr. has also Dorrestein donated many books to our association that can still be found in our library.

Dr. Ineke Westerhof was appointed an honorary member in 2024. She has a long career and extensive experience with exotic animals and worked for many years at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht. Since then, she has meant a great deal to Archaeopteryx. For instance, she has provided lectures and workshops for the association on reptiles, such as reptile first aid, handling, and many other diverse presentations, and her turtles are welcome guests at the introduction day and parents' day. Even now that she has traded the faculty for a veterinary practice in Baarn, where she holds her own consultation hours for sick exotic animals, she still comes to speak regularly and, with her enthusiasm, passion, and knowledge, always draws full halls of students and veterinarians.