On August 18, 2017, Daniel Bourzat left us, as he started another peaceful day of active retirement in his house in Nadaillac, Dordogne. Sadness sets in as we recover from the astonishment at his sudden disappearance. Daniel has devoted his entire professional life to livestock development. Few amongst us however know that his earliest career-days as an animal scientist took him to the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, in the Kerguelen Islands, to study marine mammals. But soon, a change of climate is required and in 1978, his passion for Africa wins him over as he is posted in Ouahigouya (Burkina Faso), a passion which still runs strong after assignments in Ethiopia, Kenya or Tanzania, Uganda, Chad, .... admittedly after sidestepping for a few years to New Caledonia where he became the Regional Director of CIRAD for New Caledonia and the South Pacific. Among his outstanding professional achievements, we should also remember that Daniel was Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Somalia from 2004 to 2008. The last stage of his rich professional career led Daniel to join the OIE in April 2009 as an Advisor to the OIE Regional Representative for Africa, in Bamako (Mali), from where all of us have benefited from his experience, exuberance, the stories of his adventures - by car or by plane – and his discreet generosity towards some of the staff. Despite a well-deserved retirement that allowed him to benefit more often from the French countryside, Daniel was still one of us, in particular by continuing to take part in PVS missions. Daniel was passionate about his professional commitment. For many of us, he was a reference, notably because of his tremendous experience of pastoralism in the Sahel, and a friend. Daniel was also proud of his family, children and grandchildren: it is towards them that our sympathy goes today, hoping that the fond memories we keep of Daniel, make their grief a little easier to bear. Daniel was a Frenchman, but allow me to end with these words which forever more link him to the African continent : "May the earth be light upon you..."
