Przewalski’s horses are the only true “wild” horse (meaning they have never been domesticated).
The oddly cool thing about The Wilds, is that it's forcing me to learn large animal medicine in a way i actually like!
I thought I was lost cause when it came to large animal medicine. After 3 years of vet school--i said that I "hate large animal medicine". But now i am learning that i don't. What i dislike is the gigantic, commercial, production farm that is taking over every aspect of our food system.
Which brings up another one of my soap box issues: Americans are INCREDIBLY disconnected from their food. Most people have no idea how that carrot got on their plate or even think about how their steak was once a living, breathing creature. This isn’t a vegan rant—I don’t care if people eat meat. But I would jump for joy if everyone would take the time to learn how the food got from the field/farm to their plate, appreciate the process, and make knowledgeable food choices that strive for a more sustainable society.
Ok, I’m done. I swear.
Anyway, I’m learning large animal medicine and having a blastJ
I’m practicing my catheter placement skills (in the picture, I’m placing a jugular catheter in a Persian Onager, which is a species of wild ass that’s endangered); I get to help with liver biopsies, necropsies (which is an autopsy done on an animal), neonatal exams, and I’m getting to do a lot of DARTING! We go out in the truck to pasture and use a CO2 pistol to dart vaccines into animals.
And finally, lots of babies are being born, which means cuteness abounds!
Below are pictures of baby takin. Takin are massive mountain goat-like creatures. They have to have the CUTEST babies ever!
In addition to all the fun at The Wilds, I had the opportunity to spend 3 days in Cleveland. I was helping process bones for a research project; it was pure grunt work, but on the last day, I got to spend the morning with the Cleveland Zoo vet and other students. During that morning, we did a re-check on a seal with a tail wound and anesthetized 3 red kangaroos for radiographs, CAT scans, dental exams and blood draws. It, too, was fantastic experience and I learned a lot.
Update on the housing situation: Now that I’m in my own 2
nd floor room (I spent the first week living in essentially a closet because there were too many people in the house), I get some studying done on the weekends. It’s Sunday afternoon and I look out my window (which is floor height), and there is a black rat snake crawling on the awning of our house. We went outside to see how it was going to get down and it had disappeared into the gutter, or possibly into the 2” gap between the roof of the awning and gutter (which appears to connect to the floor of my room)….
The other luxury amenities of the house include:
- limited water supply due to the well being itsy bitsy (don’t you DARE take longer than a 5 min shower or your roommates will devour you)
- the water supply available has a sulfur contend so high, you’ll pass out if you inhale
- heavily tick infest yard (oh, the joys of rocky mountain spotted fever and lyme disease!)
- a prior mouse problem (hopefully they have all moved out to the tick infested yard by now)
- “natural ventilation” aka no air conditioning (high of about 90 this week?)
- NO cell phone reception or internet at the house (I’ve been going through serious withdrawls)
- Rusty pots and pans (don’t worry—my tetanus vaccinations are up-to-date)
- A basement that smells like death (crossing my fingers no tornados hit while I’m down here)
Ok, while it’s all true, it’s really not bad. I’m making it sound worse for the sake of humor….at least I laughed.
No comments:
Post a Comment