Blogs from the Field
A healthy future for wildlife, people, and planet.
December 12, 2024
This past summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Jekyll Island, Georgia, where I served as a veterinary student extern at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC). As part of the Jekyll Island Authority, GSTC provides rehabilitation, education, and research programs focused on conserving local wildlife and their habitats....
December 04, 2024
Government isn’t the first place that most veterinary students would think of charting a career path, even those of us interested in wildlife. However, as I learned this past summer, government work can offer just as rich and diverse an experience as any zoo....
September 12, 2024
I have always been passionate about wildlife conservation and have been pursuing that career path throughout my veterinary studies. I have used most of my school breaks to go abroad and gain clinical experiences working with a variety of endangered species (notably in South Africa, Costa Rica and my most recent trip to Namibia)....
August 23, 2024
I grab a pair of gloves from the hospital and walk out into the tank area. I am not sure why I put gloves on - 90% of the time they get soaked anyway. As I approach the tank, the other veterinary extern heads into the storage area to grab a net. Turns out there is no need....
July 26, 2024
In October 2023, I had the opportunity to travel to Tasmania, the island state of Australia, to learn more about one of its most iconic species, the Tasmanian devil. Tasmanian devils are the world’s largest carnivorous marsupials, and they play a key ecological role as scavengers and in suppressing populations of invasive species....
June 11, 2024
Many have watched episodes of the Animal Planet docuseries “The Zoo,” getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the phenomenal conservation, science, and education agenda that is carried out at the Bronx Zoo. As someone interested in zoological medicine, I had always dreamt of training with the Bronx Zoo Zoological Health Program....
April 11, 2024
Santa Barbara is widely regarded as one of the most breathtaking coastal cities within the state of California. Home to perfect weather, beautiful beaches, five-star restaurants, and lively bars, it’s pretty safe to assume that I had a “wild” time and partied it up in this amazing city during the ten weeks I spent living there. Well, not exactly. Instead, I had a “wild” time treating wildlife at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) as a veterinary extern....
February 09, 2024
This summer, I embarked on an unforgettable journey into the heart of aquatic veterinary medicine with Dr. Tim Miller-Morgan at the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) in Newport, Oregon. The center is Oregon State University’s coastal campus, also serving as a marine science laboratory and an oceanographic research base for six state and federal agencies....
January 19, 2024
I had the opportunity to spend this past summer as a wildlife population health extern at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS). SCWDS is a collaborative wildlife health partnership based at the University of Georgia (UGA)....
January 03, 2024
My heart hammers in my chest as I unlock the door to the enclosure, my eyes hunting through the mesh to find the animal inside. It’s not just the heat making my palms sweaty as I open the door and duck inside; it’s not just the exercise making me short of breath. Of all the animals in the clinic, this is the one that terrifies me the most: the one-armed, two-toed sloth named Ace....