STUDENT EXPERIENCE: BELIZE

Submitted by Atalani Jackson, Tuskegee University

"In the spring of 2023, I got to fulfill my long-time goal of externing at the Belize Wildlife and Referral Center (BWRC). I had been following this wildlife center since 2015 and had always been inspired by its mission and work. Upon my arrival to a quiet and tropical town located outside the city of San Ignacio, I received a warm welcome from the staff. I would be working in a modest building with an enormous impact. This is the only wildlife clinic in the country- run by the only wildlife veterinarian in the country. The clinic saw both domestic animals and wildlife and it housed one of the only veterinary radiography machines in the city. 

Every day I would wake up to a choir of parakeets right outside my kitchen and had the opportunity to view a number of native parrots and toucans on my daily walk to the center. We would begin the day with feedings and treatments. And during my time there our patients included a variety of aquatic turtles, green iguanas, and a native opossum, falcon and fawn that all required care. In the afternoon we would carry out various husbandry activities and perform any lab work that needed to be completed.  We would commonly perform blood draws and manual white blood cell counts on hospitalized animals. This provided me with an opportunity to observe species differences in red and white blood cell morphology. In the late afternoon, we would perform procedures and see domestic animal referrals- which typically came in to receive radiographs. We would end the day with evening treatments and feedings.  

Working under Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, I learned about native wildlife and the many issues they face, including illegal wildlife trafficking, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, habitat destruction, and the seasonal wildfires that plague the countryside. The center was very involved in the community through its various programs including its wildlife ambassador program. I was honored to be able to participate in their ambassador program and it was inspiring to see so many community members express interest in wildlife welfare and one-health issues. They also partnered with several local conservation nonprofits including a nearby green iguana conservation center that focused on the captive rearing of green iguanas with the goal of releasing them back into the wild. A few iguanas from the conservation center, as well as wild iguanas, were being treated at BWRC for abscesses and wounds they developed from fighting during mating season. And one of the most memorable moments during my time there was learning about and performing anesthesia on a green iguana during a successful abscess removal. In addition to this, I also had the opportunity to practice various methods of venipuncture in turtles and iguanas and bottle feed an orphaned red brocket fawn. 

Outside of community educational activities and clinical work, anytime there was downtime I was able to perform necropsies. I have a strong interest in pathology, and it was exciting to be able to fine-tune my necropsy technique while simultaneously learning about the various infectious diseases that were common in Belize wildlife. In addition to necropsies, I was also able to practice loading and shooting a blow dart. This method of chemical immobilization is commonly used to remove animals from unsafe environments or to safely capture injured wildlife that is difficult to capture otherwise. The clinic typically used it for the chemical immobilization of monkeys which are difficult to reach in trees. And finally, to top off my time there we were able to release a number of the clinic’s aquatic turtle patients back into the wild.

Overall, I am so glad I got to spend time at BWRC and immerse myself in the culture and history of the country. I was able to better understand the difficulties and joys that come with running an international non-profit focused on conservation medicine. It left me inspired and more determined than ever to pursue a career in this field."

STUDENT EXPERIENCE: HAWAII

Sofia A Zayas Randel, University of Pennsylvania

 "In January 2023, I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii to participate in an externship at the Hawaii Wildlife Center. My first week I took as vacation to explore the island and learn more about the culture of Hawaii. I visited volcanoes, saw petroglyphs, was on top of the world at Mauna Loa, walked on black sand beaches and lava fields, visited waterfalls and lava tubes, swam with the fish, and learned to surf. Each new adventure brought me to feel a closer connection to nature. I had revelations not only of the external world but also of my interior as the island humbled me and made me reflect about how we are all interconnected and the role I play in the world. 

Everyone on the island was incredibly friendly and treated me as if I were a local. They would share with me their stories, recommendations of places to visit on the island, and even food (from pizza to backyard picked oranges). I learned a lot about the history of the island and discovered that my own Puerto Rican heritage was interconnected with Hawaii’s history. In the early 1900s, Puerto Ricans traveled to Hawaii to work at the sugar cane plantations as they were promised a decent salary and living accommodations. Many Puerto Ricans emigrated to the island, and the influence that my culture has had in Hawaii’s is evident by the signs of food vendors selling arroz con gandules, lechón, and pasteles; Puerto Rican flag stickers on some of the cars, and my own native coquí filling up the night with its sweet songs. I even met a Puerto Rican woman who worked at a goat farm, and she was so overjoyed when she discovered I was Puerto Rican and we began speaking in English. From that conversation I got free samples of the different goat products they produced, and with my purchase of goat cheese she added some fudge free of charge because that’s what kindred spirits do for each other.

For the two weeks that I was at my externship, I stayed in a small town Honokaa. This was one of the original towns that was established because of the sugar cane plantations. Here is where I learned about the history of my people and how integrated it is with Hawaii’s. The Hawaii Wildlife Center was located in Kapauu, and I had to drive everyday from Honokaa to Kapauu. Every day the drive was peaceful and beautiful. I’d pass by ranches filled with beef cows and horses, and climb up hills from which I could get a clear view of the ocean and the expansive greenness of the island. The Big Island of Hawaii is not as densely populated as other islands like Oahu. In between each city or town there was just nature.

From day one the externships was very hands-on. I am incredibly grateful of the immense trust Dr. Guerra had with me and the patience and dedication he had to teach me. While I was there I was responsible of so many tasks, some of the most notable being placing an oral esophageal tube in a Nene (Hawaiian Goose) daily, performing physical therapy exercises with the birds, assisting with anesthesia during surgical procedures, releasing birds back into the wild, and performing two necropsies on White Terns. I learned so much about avian medicine, anatomy and physiology. I really do believe this experience has shaped me to be not only to be a better veterinarian in the future but also holistically as a person."

PHOTOGRAPHY

Submitted by Shoshana Brody, University of California-Davis

"Fruit Watcher"

STUDENT EXPERIENCE: URUGUAY AND BRAZIL

Mary Clarke Worthington, North Carolina State University

"My international externship took place in Montevideo, Uruguay and Porto Alegre, Brazil with their public universities (Facultad Veterinaria and UFRGS respectively). This externship was a solo trip self-designed as part of my schools “Special Topics in Theriogenology” rotation, which proved to be an excellent way to push myself out of my comfort zone.

My first two days in Montevideo started with a conference with talks from vets from all over South

America on a wide range of topics including field C-sections, dystocia anesthesia, subfertility in stallions, and metabolic disease in pregnant mares. The rest of my stay was split between reproductive management (ultrasound, collection, AI, embryo transfer) at a local military breeding farm and the hospital managing post-partem complication mares and injured foals.

While at UFRGS I was able to assist with collection and semen analysis for the university stallions, as well

as do daily reproductive tract ultrasounds on their teaching mares. Additionally, I spent one day with a local reproduction specialist visiting several large breeding farms where we would complete ultrasounds, lavages, collections, embryo transfer, and AI. I also toured the school’s swine reproduction lab, and a local bovine genetics center.

I learned so much during this externship and saw a wide variety of cases with an equally wide range of

resources with which to manage them. Everyone at FVet and UFRGS was so welcoming and encouraging of me as a total outsider, that it gave me a lot of faith in the bonds that tie us all together as veterinarians. I was able to practice my Spanish language skills, form valuable new relationships, and see different approaches and perspectives to reproductive case management. I am incredibly grateful for the funding which made this amazing experience possible."

SAVMA GRANT

ICDC Travel Grant Supporting Diversity and Communications

Chelsea Drumgoole, North Carolina State University

"This grant will be helpful because it will allow me to fully immerse myself in the wonderful opportunities this trip has to offer!!"