During this two-week elective experience, the student will be exposed to multiple different exotic animal species and the role of the veterinary department in a zoological institution. Mesker Park Zoo is a small AZA-accredited zoo in southwest Indiana with a collection of approximately 750 animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and terrestrial invertebrates. It is a 45-acre facility located in the hills of Evansville, IN, which is within 2-3 hours of St. Louis, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Louisville.
This facility has one full-time veterinarian and one RVT. It has a fully equipped hospital and also occasionally brings in specialist veterinarians and MDs to consult on cases. Equipment includes small in-house lab, pharmacy, necropsy suite, treatment/surgery room, and radiology equipment including portable CR digital x-ray and ultrasound. A wide variety of reference material is available including textbooks on many aspects of zoo/wildlife medicine as well as electronic access and hard copies of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine.
Students should anticipate having a schedule that mirrors that of the veterinarian, which is Sunday through Thursday, approximately 8a-5p with 30-60 min lunch midday whenever possible. Students will often be assigned daily homework or journal articles on which they should be prepared to present to the vet staff at the following day's morning meeting time. Most of the time will be spent shadowing, but depending on the applicant's level of experience, some hands-on practice with restraint, anesthesia, examination, intubation, venipuncture, IV catheterization, radiograph positioning and interpretation, ultrasonography, and/or necropsy may be offered.
Requirements include: submission of up-to-date resume and negative TB test within the previous calendar year. Depending on demand, a phone/Skype interview may be required ahead of the experience to try to select applicants that will benefit the most from an experience such as this.
Contact Dr. Ullmer directly to inquire about potential housing with zoo staff during this experience. There may be a fee associated with this housing. Otherwise, student should pursue local housing on his/her own.