Kid Territory:Jobs: Animal Health
Part of a vet’s job is to examine healthy animals, and check on the progress of newborns, such as this young giant panda.
Nutritionists work in the lab conducting fiber analysis on leaves fed to primates.
It’s hard to tell if a camel is fat when it’s wearing its winter coat, so a nutritionist has to perform a hands-on check.
Veterinary technicians use this anesthesia machine on animals during surgery.
Some of our scientists study cell samples to develop new tests to detect animal diseases.
What we do
We’re the medical team for the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. Our veterinarians diagnose and treat illness, and conduct physical examinations on healthy animals as part of our preventative medical program. Registered veterinary technicians, who do everything a nurse would do, like monitoring animals under anesthesia, giving vaccinations and medications, and taking X-rays, assist the vets. Our pathologists examine tissues from living and dead animals to determine the causes of disease. The pathology laboratory also performs diagnostic tests on blood, fecal matter, and urine. Nutritionists support animal health as they research and provide diets.
What’s cool about this job
We like working with such an incredible variety of exotic animals, as part of a great animal health team! Every day offers an exciting learning opportunity.
Job challenges
We have over 8,000 patients! We work long hours to keep track of them all and their health needs. It’s frustrating when an animal hides an illness as long as possible. In the wild, weaker animals become prey, so often a disease is in advanced stages before we find and treat it. Sometimes it is hard or even impossible to determine the cause of disease or death. And of course, it is difficult when we have to euthanize an animal due to poor quality of life, like a painful terminal illness. Yet we’re fortunate that we have that option of humanely letting them go.
How this job helps animals
Much of our job revolves around preventative medicine—keeping animals healthy. We are always learning more about the health care of wild animals, which helps the animals in the collection, and conserves them in the wild. In a single day we could participate in anything from a birth to involvement with a conservation effort, like the California condor program.
How to get a job like this
Get excellent grades in high school and college and take animal-related courses like biology and zoology. Gain experience by volunteering or working in animal-related jobs or research programs. Go into an organized program for animal science. Registered veterinary technicians take a two-year course to earn a license. Veterinary training requires many years of college, internship, and residency (a two- or three-year position to give you experience in a specialty). The competition is stiff. Many of us have always wanted to work with animals, but jobs in these professions are scarce. Be interested and dedicated, and be persistent!
