Aja Pendergrast, Auckland Zoo
Happy Veterinary Nurse Awareness Week! Did you know that Auckland Zoo employs 5 vet nurses in our veterinary department?
We love our vet nurses who work incredibly hard every day to care for wildlife. Not only do they care for our zoo whānau but they also look after a diverse range of patients from the wild. So far this year our vet hospital has welcomed in wildlife such as sick New Zealand fur seals, injured takahē, stranded sea turtles and a large influx of critically endangered kākāpō.
Our vet nurses are integral to the work we do here at Auckland Zoo. Often when sick or injured wildlife that come through our Vet Hospital doors require immediate care, and our nurses are always right there to help them. They make sure our sick patients are properly housed, fed and medicated, as well as monitoring them under anaesthetic & assisting the vets in doing diagnostic testing to find out what is wrong. Our vet nurses also help to maintain the on-going health of our zoo animals by performing routine faecal sample testing & other laboratory diagnostics. They ensure the smooth running of our Vet Hospital by making sure the shelves are always fully stocked with the drugs and equipment we need, and that quarantine and cleaning is done to a very high standard.
The vet nurses at Auckland Zoo have extra knowledge and skills because they work with such a diverse range of animals – anything from a tiny gecko to the kākāpō that need, round-the-clock treatment, advanced diagnostics and strict biosecurity to a huge rhino or elephant and everything in between!
Join us and our friends at the New Zealand Veterinary Association in celebrating vet nurses all over Aotearoa. You can learn more about our vet team and the work they do on our Auckland Zoo Vet Hospital page.
