Blogs from the Field
A healthy future for wildlife, people, and planet.
October 29, 2025
With aspirations of working as a veterinarian in a safari park, I approached the externship with the goal of gaining hands-on experience in field anesthesia and procedures performed under semi-free-ranging conditions....
October 23, 2025
On the recommendation of Cornell’s Dr. Martin Gilbert, I reached out to Dr. Ashley Reeves, the research veterinarian for the East Foundation, a private nonprofit focused on land stewardship...
September 25, 2025
In an ever-changing society, the roles of biologists and veterinarians remain essential in the conservation of wildlife and biodiversity more broadly....
September 16, 2025
by
Victoria Priester
Every seal or porpoise that strands tells a story of the life it lived and how it died, though some findings from necropsies make more complete stories than others....
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...
May 07, 2025
I entered veterinary school with a strong interest in pursuing a career in zoological medicine. Over the past few years, I’ve been committed to exploring various aspects of the field and making the most of the many opportunities Cornell has to offer....
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)....
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....
November 21, 2023
Did you know that the second most common cause of injured sloths coming into rescue centers is electrocution? If not, you are in the majority. There is little to no literature about sloth electrocution in the academic world, even though it is such a pervasive problem.