Belize Zoo

Lily Thorsen, Ross University

My trip to the Belize Zoo was one of the most informative and exciting trips of my life. I got to apply so much of the information I learned during the previous five semesters of vet schools, but I got to apply the information to zoo animals instead of your typical dog or cat. This made it even more exciting and really drove the message home that the information we learn in school provides us with ability to navigate through most situations, regardless of the type of animal. 

During my internship, I was able to anesthetize a female howler monkey that was in poor condition. She had a luxated lens and several broken teeth due to head trauma, mastitis and a urinary tract infection. I was able to do an ultrasound guided cystocentesis on the anesthetized monkey, which was super exciting. 

We also sedated a jaguar, a four-eyed opossum, three peccaries, and 2 tapirs for routine physical exam, blood draw, fecal collection, parasite treatment, and treatment of any ailments. The blood draws really reinforced a lot of anatomy since we had to remember potential places where we could draw blood on all of these animals based on the domestic species to which they are similar. Sedating these animals required me to remember everything I had learned in pharmacology and anesthesia and required that I do a little research into what drugs are safe to use in each species. Running the blood work made me remember much of what I learned in clinical pathology. One of the peccaries had a red blood cell parasite that has yet to be identified, but it was very cool to see for many of us students.

 

Finally, we worked with crocodiles and birds. I had very limited experience with reptiles and birds prior to this experience, so this was initially very intimidating. One of the crocodiles had a wounded tail that we examined and rebandaged. I learned that crocodiles heal much slower than most mammalian species and that treating a wound on a crocodile is a constant balancing act of providing them with access to water but trying to keep their bandage dry at the same time. The other crocodile simply needed a physical exam and a blood draw, but this was still exciting since we had to draw blood from the basilar artery right above the spinal cord. The birds we cared for included ornate hawk eagles, harpy eagles, and a scarlet macaw, and they needed a blood draw and exam. Performing these tasks required that I remember what I learned during anatomy in second semester about properly restraining birds and where we can draw blood. This experience helped me get over much of my fear of handling bird and reptiles. 

I am very grateful for my experience at the Belize Zoo. It reinforced much of what I had previously learned and taught me much more about veterinary medicine and all of its vast fields. The trip also taught me a lot about the Belize culture, and I firmly believe that exposure to new cultures is always beneficial to becoming a well rounded person.