This week I got a lot of chopper time, I got to work on a lot of species, not just rhino and sable. And I also got to do even a lot more doing, not just watching. Bossie put a lot of faith in me. He'd go off in the chopper and dart a bunch of animals leaving me behind on the ground to administer everything to the animals and even wake them up when it was over. I gave them all antibiotics, vitamins and dewormer and other things too.
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| Bossie's vet office. Pretty mobile. Plus his dart gun. |
I worked with a bunch of animals that were on a private farm being taken over by the government, so we had to move these animals to reserves or they would lose their habitats, environment, food sources and die. Or get poached (according to the people I was with).
I worked with klipspringer, eland, raon antelope, sable, rhino, more buffalo. I got to care for two orphaned baby zebras, do a hernia repair, cortisone injections for lameness, necropsy on a sable cow worth $500,000 USD who died of a lung infection :(
One of the dogs here had her puppies. 9 border collie puppies on Thursday night, but one of them wasn't making it so we tried to save him with a warm blanket and a syringe full of warm milk and the mother, but all to no avail. :(
We got called to dart a hippo that was hurt, but then it broke its leg so it had to be shot and killed instead. And then we mounted it on a trailer and hauled it back to the Osmers' farm. It was ENORMOUS. Literally biggest thing ever. I totally would have taken a million pictures with it, with my head in its mouth, etc, but it was pitch black since it was pretty late by the time we got it back.
A dog on the side of the road, left behind by some poachers had rabies and looked awful, mangy, sick, lonely and forgotten. So, sadly, he also had to be killed since he posed a serious threat to humans and animals.
I learned a lot about client-vet-patient interactions, customer/client service, how clients can be quite nasty, how people don't like paying vet bills. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I want to do. And yep, I still want to be a vet. In fact, I can't wait. I actually spent a lot of evening time working on my personal statement and other aspects of my vet school application.
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| Rambo keeping me company while I try to work on my personal statement... |
I learned that birds are dumb and mean and they bite, so their only potential redeeming quality is beauty. Ugly birds therefore are the worst. :P Most notably osriches, Africa's most dangerous animal second-only to hippos. They are aggressive and attack people. And they fight to the death. Had too many near-heart-stopping ostrich encounters for one week. I can tell you the stories when I recover from PTSD. lol. But this is not a joke. I was chased twice by an ostrich with four babies.
I learned that wildlife medicine is about surprises and finding the best balance between nature and intervention. I learned how certain veterinary drugs work and dosing guidelines. I learned about vet med troubleshooting in the bush and what to do if someone collapses from heat stroke (that was Bossie and he asked me to inject him with something...I was like uhhhhh).
I learned how to do a necropsy with an open mind (and preferably closed nose...dead animals' blood stinks!), looking for the unexpected, letting all the organs tell the story, not just one.
I learned that hippos stink, that wound care iodine stains clothes...and fingers, and that if an ostrich is running towards you and his legs are pink or red on the front, you better say your last words. And they might not be something polite.
I learned that baby zebras can't drink straight horse's milk - it has to be diluted, and that they are very affectionate animals.
I learned what the potential causes of sable calf diarrhea are and how to figure out which one is making a calf - or better yet five calves in a herd - sick (epidemiology for the win!).
I learned that some kinds of grass are evil and will attack your feet and ankles.
I learned how to use surgical clamps and put sutures on a wild eland bull's testicles.
And I learned that sometimes, in wildlife medicine, you simply cannot find the animal you're supposed to treat. haha! Yupppp that happened.
And quite frankly, I learned that wildlife vets don't have time to take pictures! Womp womp.
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