Wild life externships in USA

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1 Wild life externships in USA Sponsored by the MAH- IVSA Scholarship and Travel Grant program by Mayan Bar-On, Israel Summer of 2015 is a summer to remember. As a veterinary student I have been studying for many years in the same institute, with the same professors and the same "I believe". Opening up to a new place, new practices, new ideas, where other people speak my "language" (the veterinary language) is a fascinating, intriguing and developing experience. I did 2 rotations in the USA, Both were unforgettable gifts in my life: 2 weeks- Pacific Marine Mammals center (PMMC)- Laguna Beach, OC, California. 2 weeks- "Save the Chimps" sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida. Having an externship abroad has never been a trivial option for me due to financial reasons as a full time student. Finding the MAH-IVSA scholarship program has been a happy reveal for me, and I immediately knew I wasn't going to let this opportunity slip away. I admit- applying is not an easy task during school time, though I would have done it all over again if needed and much more! I have started my journey in Orange County, California, where I was warmly welcomed by the amazing staff of the PMMC, and my personal mentor there- Dr Richard Evans, who taught me a lot and was very kind and inviting. We did morning and noon rounds around the pens, examining new arriving seals, check on present seals and their progress and did "pre-release" examines to healthy happy seals who were ready to go back into the ocean. Since Dr. Evans is also a Pathologist, we did post mortem necropsies (of seals that unfortunately died) only few minutes after their death- another worthwhile experience as you get to see very "fresh" and clear anatomy. On the course of the

2 necropsies we have noticed a few trends that are fairly interesting to further investigate. For example, we have noticed that starving seals develop hyposplenism which appears to have no blood left in it. This phenomenon has never been studied on any animal and the data is going to be analyzed for further conclusions. The PMMC inhabits harbor seals, sea lions and elephant seals at the moment, but is struggling for any stranded marine mammal. These days, most of them are malnourished pups as the California area is experiencing a major seal-starvation crisis in the past few months. The cause is still undefined, but the postulation is that past El-Niño and the ocean warming has caused the regular fish communities occupying the area to move further into the deep cooler water. This has led the sealmoms to go further in to forage for food. Consequently, the pups were left alone for longer periods of time or even lost their moms forever. The starving weak pups can't forage just yet, so they are washed ashore, desperately looking for fish in the shallow reefs, where lung parasites (Parafilaroides spp.) reside in the fish, waiting to prosper in the poor seal's lungs. Once it has, there is no way back and the seal will start coughing progressively harder and will eventually be euthanized. Deworming them won't help as there is no way to eliminate the massive amount of dead worms from the lungs afterwards. Harbor seal

3 California sea lion elephant seal The greatest number of stranded pups found are those found by people on the beach. They call the center and a rescue team goes to check it- weather the seal is really alone? Is it really stranded? Starving? When the rescue team arrives at the location, first they observe to see if there isn t a mom around (if you touch them and the mother comes back, she will abandon the seal for having our smell, so be careful!) Once they realize the pup is alone, stranded, thin and hungry, they collect it to the center, do a physical examination and evaluation of their status and immediately start to treat them. This is the daily routine at PMMC. The PMMC has a veterinary department, led by Dr. Evans. And his younger co-veterinarian. The experience was very educating on the medical level, enriching in a field I don't have the opportunity to practice in my home country and very emotional as you get to see the animals at different stages of their medical status and luckily attend the overwhelming release of healthy animals to the ocean. Seeing them rushing vitally back to their freedom reminded me every time why I chose this profession although the hard demanding work.

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5 My second rotation was held at "save the chimps" sanctuary in Florida. A place that can only exist there and in my dreams. The sanctuary is home for about 250 chimps, all harmed by the medical experiment industry, the entertainment industry and private people who held them as pets. I was surprised to discover that in the USA it is legal to have a wild animal as a pet. The Sanctuary is their home. They will never be able to return to nature. No-one is allowed in but the workers, volunteers and donors who financially adopt a chimp and are allowed to visit them once in a while. The place isn t open for entertainment reasons at all. The air force chimps or the space chimps were the first group to arrive there. These are chimps that were born in the US air force, used for experiments, were sent to space before the astronauts etc. Once they retired from the air force, they were sold for to medical experiments laboratories in New-Mexico and used there. Once these laboratories went bankrupt when found guilty under animal abuse reasons, the establisher of the sanctuary took them over. Since then, the place has grown, accepted more chimps, taking care for anything they need. The chimps have been living there for many years now, almost all of them have health and/or psychological difficulties, and need medical assistance and medications. Each chimp has its own taste and the dedicated crew is devoted to prepare everything to their joy.

6 I revealed there a magnificent world combining veterinary medicine, human medicine and child psychology. You have to use all these fields in order to treat these beautiful creatures. The most common chronic diseases chimps die from are heart diseases and routinely, all of them are going through eco-cardiographs and other specialty issues by human experts flown there especially for these reasons. I was lucky to take part in different procedures- eco-cardiograph, ophthalmic examination, dental treatment, general physical examination

7 The crew are the nicest most passionate people and you shouldn t get me started on the wonderful amazing and inspiring woman, Dr. Jocelyn Bezner, who runs the veterinary department and personally loves each chimp like they were her children. The benefit was when she took me surfing early in the morning fascinating lady In conclusion, I warmly reccomand putting the effort needed into applying to the scholarship as it is one of the most beneficial experiences during veterinary studies. Sincerely,, Mayan Bar-On