When Girls In Science visit a new place in the Zoo, voices are usually animated and steps are full of spring. This week, though, the girls shuffled quietly into the Zoo’s veterinary hospital, voices hushed and full of awe. ” This is where stuff happens,” one of the girls whispered to another.

And she was right. The San Diego Zoo’s veterinary team seems to be surrounded by an air of mystery in the public’s eyes, able to heal the sick and full of knowledge about each and every animal, no matter how rare or endangered they might be. Visitors to the Zoo often want to know where the vets are based, how they learn about the animals they treat, and are intrigued when they see our vets and vet techs out in the Zoo ” doing their thing.”

We were exceptionally lucky to be able to meet with Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith this week. She has worked at the Zoo for more than 14 years and had loads of fascinating stories to share with us. The first thing the girls got to learn about was darting. The vet team uses darts to anesthetize animals that need to be caught up for treatment and will also use them to administer medication. Dr. Meg showed us how the darts work, how to load them with medication, and how to shoot them! A couple of lucky volunteers even got to shoot darts (loaded with water) out of both a shotgun and a rifle””aiming for a foam deer set up across the compound””and did a great job!

We also learned about monitoring patients who are undergoing procedures such as surgery or teeth cleaning. The Zoo’s vets use the same sorts of equipment that human doctors use to monitor heart rates, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and breathing. We saw different-sized tubes used to help animals breathe while they’re sedated, and got to check out arthroscopes and special lighting. We all listened to our own hearts using stethoscopes, and hooked ourselves up to the pulse oximeters to find our baseline numbers, then jumped up and down and ran around to try to increase those numbers! We even got to see Dr. Meg tube feed a sick kiwi! This IS where stuff happens!

There is never enough time to see and do all Dr. Meg has planned for us, and before we knew it we were racing to try to get back to school on time. We were late””of course””but no one complained! Thanks, Dr. Meg, for an amazing opportunity to glance into your world. We learned that being a good vet isn’t all that mysterious; you just have to stay on your toes and keep your eyes open!

Cindy Spiva-Evans is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.

Girls In Science is a program for Roosevelt Middle School girls which creates science-based experiences with professional women at the San Diego Zoo. The program is funded through the generosity of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Read a previous blog about a GIS adventure.

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