The Nacho Deer

Kate Connell - Penn

Foot in Mouth Disease - Winner

Best Overall Submission - Winner

         I’ve often found that the most interesting cases in the veterinary field appear on the necropsy table. Unlike human medicine, we can’t always afford to run all of the necessary diagnostics to find our disease. So the most baffling cases literally open up for exploration once the patient is deceased.

            The case that I’ll lay out for you today features a deer that was brought in to a wildlife clinic in Guatemala (yes, there are deer in in Central America). At first glance, he took your breath away. Magnificent twelve point buck, glistening coat, bright eyes, and…morbidly obese. We might be used to seeing overweight cats and dogs coming to our offices, but let me tell you, seeing a fat deer is something that makes you scratch your head. 

            The police confiscated the deer from a man keeping it in his backyard, where it had been raised on a diet of Frito Lays and Pringles (how the name “Nacho Deer” came about). Once he was with us, Nacho Deer acted like a typical only child that had been allowed to eat cookies for breakfast and stay up late watching TV in his room. When given his vegetables, he kicked them around his pen in a bitter rampage, and volunteers weren’t allowed in the enclosure with him after too many charging incidents. 

            Needless to say, no one shed a tear when Nacho Deer was found suddenly dead one evening. Because it was too late to investigate cause of death, we locked him in the office (no deer-sized refrigerator in the facility) so that scavengers wouldn’t pick at him overnight. We returned to do the necropsy the next morning, and I’ve never seen such a bizarre combination of pathologies.

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From Conservation to Cancer

Honorable mention, Life as a Vet Student
Briana Hallman, University of Minnesota

Marine mammal trainer, zookeeper, and wildlife biologist were all careers in which I had a strong interest before I even considered veterinary medicine. While interning at a wolf research center during the summer before senior year of my undergraduate education, I realized my love of wildlife was matched by my interest in medicine. My senior year was dedicated to last-minute courses that fulfilled admission requirements for veterinary school, and I accepted my admission offer for a spot in the class of 2013 from the University of Minnesota. I intended to become a wildlife veterinarian and involve myself in the One Health Initiative through animal conservation. Once beginning veterinary school, I took advantage of extra wetlabs and lectures in wild animal and exotic medicine, volunteered with the local wildlife rehabilitation center, and even traveled to South Africa for a hands-on course in conservation medicine. I was building a resume that would make me stand out in the wildlife medical field, and I was fully prepared to move anywhere in the world to find a job in this extremely competitive area of veterinary medicine.

One day in the second semester of my second year, I was introduced to the field of veterinary oncology when I spent two hours with Minnesota’s oncology service as part of our clinical skills course. I was immediately drawn to the unexpectedly pleasant environment in the oncology office, where canine day-patients receiving treatment get to play with other patients rather than sitting in a kennel all day. The office was filled with notes, plaques, and photos from clients thanking the clinicians for the time they were given with their beloved pets. My view of the oncology service as a sad, depressing, hopeless place was extinguished, and I began to take an interest in the overall biology of cancer and the science of its therapy. This interest grew during my third year, when my official course in oncology began. Diagnosing my first mast cell tumor as a third year student on a service trip to a nearby Native American reservation gave me confidence in my clinical knowledge and increased my curiosity about neoplasms in animals. I remained passionate about animal conservation, however, so pursuing wildlife medicine persisted as my career goal, and I lined up several senior externships in that field.

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University of Wisconsin hosts Oiled Wildlife Clean-up Lab for Veterinary Students and Community Professionals

SAVMA's Education and Professional Development Committee awards grants to student organizations or clubs to design either a lecture and/or wet lab for a topic to which students would not otherwise be exposed. Three $250 dollar grants are offered each year, and winners are hosen by the committee in November. For this and other SAVMA funding opportunites, visit our website.

On April 27th, 2013 the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine sponsored an oiled wildlife cleanup wet lab for the first time in the school’s history. This wet lab experience was organized by students in the Wildlife, Exotic, and Zoo Animal Medicine (WEZAM) club at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and directed by members of Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research and VMAT (Veterinary Medical Assistance Team) from the AVMA.

Both students and community veterinary professionals took part in a unique wet lab experience where they were exposed to the basics of oiled wildlife clean-up procedures.  Participants were educated in proper handling of oil-contaminated animals, physical examinations with an emphasis on triage, clean-up and bath protocol, and appropriate safety precautions.  Participants gained an understanding of the role they can play as veterinary professionals in responding to oil contamination events and learned that such events can take place outside coastal areas.

WEZAM’s mission is to supplement the traditional veterinary education with subjects in wildlife, exotics, and zoo animal medicine that are otherwise lacking in the curriculum.  In addition to other wet labs such as this, WEZAM sponsors various events, tours, and speakers throughout the year and hosts an annual conference in the field of wildlife, exotics, and zoo animal medicine.  This was the first event held on the topic of oiled wildlife, and the club hopes to hold similar events in the future due to the positive responses after the lab.  We would like to thank Tri-State and VMAT for their help in putting on this great event.  We would also like to thank the US Fish and Wildlife Service for donating the waterfowl carcasses used in this lab.  The lab was made possible by generous funding from the AVMA, the University of Wisconsin SCAVMA and the EPDC Extracurricular Grant awarded by SAVMA. 

Condor Project

Entry, Experiences
Jana Mazor-Thomas, Tufts

Last June, I was lucky enough to go on what is pretty much my dream externship: working with Dr. John Bryan of the National Park Service, on the California Condor recovery project at Pinnacles National Monument.

For those who are not obsessed with birds, the appeal of this is probably a little hard to imagine. Condors are huge, stinky, sometimes angry birds. They live primarily on carrion and the bacteria in their mouths are the ones that are nasty enough to out-compete all the bacteria that grow on dead animals. They're also unbelievably beautiful, critically endangered, the largest bird in North America - and a fantastic story about how medical care and the dedication of hundreds of people kept this apex species from extinction and now on the road to recovery. So for a bird nerd? Yes, the elective of a lifetime.

The biggest source of mortality for the condors is still lead poisoning from bullets left in carcasses by hunters. Medically, most of the work done revolves around treatment for lead poisoning. At least twice a year, the condor crew try to trap every condor in their management area and check their lead levels, then chelate them if need be. Sadly, their lower cutoff for birds that need chelation has to be well above what we consider acceptable in other raptors, because otherwise, nearly every condor would still be in captivity for treatment, and the goal of this project is to return these birds to a life in the wild that does not require human intervention. 

Capturing and restraining an easily-stressed bird with a ten-foot wing span is not a job for the faint of heart!

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Experiences: Parawild African wildlife management course

Winner, Experiences category
Bradley Venable, Auburn University '14

Do you know just how adventurous the veterinary profession can be? Full of twists and turns, some of which you could never be prepared for.  Our profession provides a world of opportunity waiting for you to take advantage of it. I definitely didn’t anticipate the story I am about to tell you.

The minute I signed up for the Parawild African Wildlife management course at Western Kentucky University, I knew I was in for a treat. I was set for a month long stay at various locations throughout South Africa, which involved capturing and relocating wild game for conservation purposes. Just about 22 hours of flights put this small town Kentucky boy in a daze. I was exhausted but exhilarated to be working with leopards, kudu, elephants, giraffes, and impala among othWorking on a kudu.ers including the infamous zebra. Throughout the course of the trip we were given crash courses on darting, animal behavior, conservation biology, anesthesia, and animal restraint. None of which could ever prepare me for what was to happen. It was our last day at the Phelwanna game lounge and it was absolutely perfect. The winter sun was glaring and the wind was just enough to provide relief but not quite strong enough to reveal our ninja like movements. That day, our mission was to capture three zebra and relocate them via horse trailer. We had successfully immobilized and loaded up the first two targets by means of an M99 cocktail and were administering the reversal to the third when it happened in a flash. One second I stood firmly on two feet; the next, I was flat on my back on the dry South African soil. In shock, I was left to wonder if I had signed up for this kind of adventure.

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