Conservation in Action 2025 (EXTERNAL SHARE) - Flipbook - Page 31
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Male Sumatran tiger receives a veterinary health check at Twycross Zoo – Adam Kay
GOLD STANDARD
VETERINARY CARE FOR
EVERY ANIMAL
Twycross Zoo has an onsite full-time veterinary
team consisting of two vets, two veterinary nurses
and a registrar. Having such an experienced
onsite team enables gold standard care for all
our animals on site and in our conservation
projects. For thirteen years we have conducted
preventative health checks in most of our
animals, to enable us to understand and assess
their ongoing health status. This baseline data is
often not available for many species; therefore,
it is invaluable information for us and other
zoos. It is also extremely useful if an animal is
unwell for any reason – allowing us to compare
health status in emergency health checks, to
their baseline normal data to aid in our diagnosis
and treatment
of
these cases. Preventative
health checks are carried out regularly for
most individuals. They are also carried out prior
to animals being transferred to another zoo for
breeding or companionship and within their
quarantine period following arrival at the zoo.
Phillipa Dobbs
Veterinary Services
Manager
Julian Keles
Veterinary Associate
Samantha Ash昀椀eld
Senior Veterinary Nurse
Positive reinforcement training is conducted with
many of our animals to enable health assessments
to be carried out via conscious examination
without anaesthesia where possible. A great
example of this is our female tiger – she is trained
for conscious blood sampling, blood pressure
monitoring, injection administration and
eye
drop administration. This training has enabled
us to treat her eye following cataract surgery in
October 2024 and monitor her kidney parameters
following any anaesthesia to ensure she is in the
best health for the EEP.
