Blogs from the Field
A healthy future for wildlife, people, and planet.
January 13, 2026
On the first day of my externship with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, I shook hands with Dr. Julia Burco, a state wildlife veterinarian, and I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and fulfillment....
August 26, 2025
What does it mean to care for 1,376 wild animals over the course of a summer? This past summer, I found out firsthand as a hospital extern at WildCare...
June 05, 2025
As a young child, an eager zoo camper, and later a teen volunteer at the Maryland Zoo in my hometown of Baltimore, I was always drawn to the lemurs in the zoo’s collection...
April 23, 2025
by
Carmen Smith
It was a misty morning on the outskirts of Chitwan National Park in Nepal, and I awoke after a night of little sleep broken by the sounds of dogs barking and roosters crowing....
April 09, 2025
The Fossil Rim Wildlife Center plays an important role in efforts to save wildlife species from extinction. I was fortunate enough to travel to Glen Rose, Texas for a preceptorship to experience these conservation efforts firsthand....
February 06, 2025
In the Kasongoire Forest of western Uganda, nearly 60 chimpanzees build nests and nap in Ficus trees; playful infants jump energetically from hanging vines, while young males sit in circles to groom each other. When you are deep in the forest observing the chimps, it is easy to forget that this forest is only a fraction of its former size....
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....
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....
September 20, 2023
I have met many conservationists who do not believe in keeping wildlife in captivity. However, the San Diego Zoo seems to win the hearts of both wildlife conservationists and those who work with captive wildlife. How does this zoo bridge the gap between the two?
February 11, 2023
Six years ago, on a regular workday, I was sitting at my desk tagging photos from a camera trap survey. Late in the afternoon, a picture of an uncanny species baffled me. It looked somewhat like a domestic dog, but taller and longer-bodied....