When an Animal Gets Sick

Medical facilities at the North Carolina Zoo

At a zoo, just like in real life, animals can get sick or hurt. So the North Carolina Zoo has a group of veterinarians and a hospital to take care of all the animals. There is both an emergency room and a normal hospital at the zoo. Working in the hospital are two full-time vets and three residents. There is a part-time pathologist. And there are six vet techs who work like nurse practitioners.

If you think about it, the job of these vets is amazing. A human doctor deals with one species. A normal vet deals with dogs and cats, or horses and cows. At the zoo, there are hundreds of different species, and they all need the best care. Even though they've got on-site hospital facilities, Chief Veterinarian Dr. Mike Loomis explained that they'll do everything they can to keep the animals out of the hospital. The reason is that many animals live in social groupings. When you take an animal out of its grouping, it is sometimes hard to get it back in. The vets will do everything they possibly can in the animal's pen before taking the animal to the hospital.

Taking care of an animal in a zoo is complex. Let's look at two different cases and you can see why. First, imagine that one of the caretakers sees that a red river hog has a suspicious lump on its skin. If the animal has not been trained or does not like being handled, it must be put to sleep for the examination. That means a dart gun, and the chance that the animal will get hurt. That's a lot of stuff to do just to look at a lump! With training, it can go differently. Every time someone works with the red river hogs, that person is carrying something that looks, sounds and smells like a vet kit. With a good enough relationship, the people who work with the hogs can touch them. Eventually, the hogs can be trained to allow a physical exam without needing any tranquilizers. The reward is to rub the hog's stomach. Eventually the relationship can be so strong that people can take blood samples without tranquilizers. It is much better for the animal.

In another case, a female gorilla named Donna was bleeding. Donna is five feet tall and weighs 280 pounds. The first step was to understand the problem, so the vets tranquilized her in her pen and used a portable ultrasound machine to examine her. They decided an operation in the hospital would be necessary. The first step was to put her to sleep with a dart. Once she was down, the vets intubated her and put her on a gurney for the ride to the hospital. The surgery took two hours. Because gorilla anatomy is similar to human anatomy, two human doctors were brought in to help with the surgery, along with several other vets. After the surgery, Donna was able to recover in her holding area. A keeper stayed with her through the night and reintroduced her to her cage mate in the morning.

Photo Courtesy North Carolina Zoo Veterinary staff examine an animal at the North Carolina Zoo.

Because animal species can be so different, each case can be completely different at the zoo. Working on a fish is very different from working on a turtle, a bird, a snake, a bat or an elephant. It sure makes the job interesting.