Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website!
What’s one thing that you and the animals at the San Diego Zoo have in common? Both of you need health check-ups, and both of you visit the doctor if sick or injured. While you head down to your doctor’s office, the animals head down to the Zoo’s Veterinary Hospital located on grounds at the San Diego Zoo. This week, we met Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith, Director of Veterinary Services, and learned a bit about how medical care of species in the Zoo can also benefit the species that live in the wild.
Dr. Sutherland-Smith has been with the San Diego Zoo for 29 years and has seen many advances in the techniques and technologies used for veterinary sciences. Digital radiographs, or “x-rays”, have allowed for her and her team to see the animal’s insides with significantly greater detail than film radiographs. Through the digital radiograph images, internal issues with an animal are diagnosed with greater ease. When it comes to examining an animal’s skeletal structure for fractures, Dr. Sutherland-Smith does have a machine in her facility that allows for even greater accuracy to diagnose them. The CT machine can create 3D models of the animal’s skeleton to allow for more accurate diagnoses. Other tools to aid in diagnosing animals that are available to the veterinary staff include anesthesia (which is given through various methods such as gas, injections, orally, or with darts) and intubation, pulse oximeters (which monitor blood oxygenation and heartrate), MRIs, physicals, blood testing, fecal samples, ultrasounds, and biopsies.
Due to the great variety of species kept in the Zoo’s collection, there are a plethora of ways in which diagnostic tests can be conducted. For example, when a smaller animal, like a bird, must go under anesthesia, a small mask and small endotracheal tube must be used to ensure the highest level of safety for the animal. For larger animals, initial sedation may be made by darting it from afar. Some animals may be placed into a squeeze cage (a cage in which the back end moves towards the front to push the animal near the screen at the entrance) to receive injections to sedate them while others can simply be hand injected without the aid of the squeeze cage. The Zoo uses anesthetics on animals when undergoing surgery, MRIs, CT scans, and on certain animals it is used while taking radiographs. While the animals are under the anesthesia and intubated, they are kept on padded surfaces to ensure that they are safe, secure, and comfortable.
Now, you may be thinking, this is great for aiding the animals within the Zoo, but does it have any effects outside of the Zoo? The answer to that is: yes! When working to figure out what is going on with a particular animal or an entire species, quite a bit of information can be taken and used to help conserve their wild brethren. Finding out what conditions may commonly plague a species within the Zoo’s collection and what the best treatment options are can help to treat animals in the wild and keep their numbers strong. Population health is key to conserving animals in the wild. If a veterinarian can treat an animal or group of animals at the zoo, similar versions of those treatments may help keep wildlife populations strong and healthy. Animals from other zoos may also benefit from research and findings from the San Diego Zoo, allowing for the improvement of their care nationwide.
Dr. Sutherland-Smith and her veterinary staff work up to ten hours a workday ensuring that the Zoo’s animals are feeling their best. All their hard work not only improves the lives of the Zoo’s animals, but also greatly aids in improving the lives of wild animals.
Alana, Conservation Team
Week Two, Winter Session 2019
