Going into the Zoo InternQuest program, I never imagined I would get to see a monkey in surgery. That assumption, however, was crushed when the interns met with Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith, senior veterinarian. When we arrived, one of the first things we saw was an Angolan colobus undergoing a surgical procedure.

It really made the whole ” save the animals” phrase come alive to me. After learning that the monkey had a severe laceration on its arm, I realized that, even with all the precautions the Zoo takes, the animals are still wild, and things do happen – quite frequently as I later learned.

Because of the various sizes, shapes and colors of the animals, the veterinarians always have to come up with individual plans for different animals. While most birds and reptiles can be transported manually, that would be more difficult with some of the larger animals. One method the Zoo uses to contain animals, sometimes in their back bedroom areas, is a squeeze cage. These make vaccinations and anesthesia much easier to administer to larger animals, especially. A squeeze cage does not hurt the animal but makes the space smaller so the animal cannot thrash around and hurt itself or the keepers.

I was surprised to hear that fifty percent of Dr. Sutherland-Smith’s procedures require the animals to be under anesthesia. I had previously thought there were only a few different types of anesthesia, but I now know there are many different ones. I also learned that the amount given to specific animals, even within individuals in the same species, is vital. The same quantity could hardly affect one animal, while almost kill another. Because of this, the vets constantly monitor animals whenever they are given anesthesia. In past decades, simple methods such as watching for breathing and the use of stethoscopes helped monitor animals’ breathing. Now, however, technology has greatly advanced, allowing vets to have more accurate information on the animals. Veterinarians now monitor an animal’s blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and heart rate to ensure the animal’s overall stability. This is done using a cool little machine called the pulse-oximeter. The monitor can be clipped to the animal’s tongue or ear.

I also never knew that there are many precise details that go into making an anesthetic dart. All of the darts the Zoo uses are two-chamber air darts. They have holes on either side of the needles, instead of one at the tip like needles used for humans. The darts are then shot through carbon dioxide-powered rifles and pistols, which are quite quiet when outdoors. This helps to minimize scaring the animals in their enclosures. The veterinarians aim for the back thigh area of an animal so the anesthesia is injected into muscle. If it is inserted into fat, there is a chance that the anesthesia will be inconsistent, possibly causing troubles during a procedure.

Necropsy. The word itself doesn’t sound too chilling, but behind the doors of that section at the Zoo’s veterinary facilities, there’s more death than I could ever imagine. The necropsy lab is where all the deceased Zoo animals are examined. (Despite the best efforts of the Zoo staff, animals eventually die. However, the life span of animals at the Zoo is always much longer than that of animals in the wild, as the Zoo animals are less likely to die from disease or predation.) Because the pathologists are able to determine why and how an animal died, the information can then be passed on to help save other animals of the same species. For example, if the animal had a disease that could be contagious to the other animals in the enclosure, the vets could take precautions to be sure to stop the spread of the disease. If the cause of death was something genetic, then the offspring of that animal would be tested for the same genetic defect, and perhaps not bred in order to stop the defect from being passed on again. In visiting the necropsy lab ““ and freezer containing a recently deceased Galapagos tortoise – I felt like I was really embracing all aspects of the Zoo by gaining an understanding of the ” after life” of the Zoo animals.

One zoo’s dead tortoise, however, is a museum’s newest exhibit. At the request of various natural history museums and universities, the Zoo preserves many deceased animals after their exams. Museums then may display the skeletons or actual animals on exhibit. This allows the public to get a closer look at the animals and realize the need to preserve the species we have today. Back in the days of exploration, like the 1700s and 1800s, and even into the first half of the 1900s, museums would send expeditions to the wild to kill and collect animal specimens.

Overall, I was quite impressed with the Zoo’s veterinary work. It was amazing to see the veterinarians actually at work, rather than just hearing about all they do. That made everything seem so much more real to me. After visiting with Dr. Sutherland-Smith, a career of veterinary medicine still sounds like something I’d love to do.

Contributed by Shelby – Zoo InternQuest Conservation Team

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