Zoe Payner

I am shadowing a wildlife and exotic veterinarian who owns a mobile wildlife veterinary clinic. Assisting with restraint of patients, record keeping, and aiding in day to day care of patients. This activity will continue past September and I will be given more responsibilities as I spend more time with the clinic. Currently, I travel with the mobile clinic where we visit patients in the wild, at zoological sites, and peoples' homes. The clinic is full service with a homebase and two mobile units. Diagnostic and surgical medicine are practiced, as well as rehabilitation and forensic medicine.

As an animal husbandry volunteer, I assist the keepers in cleaning habitats and night houses, as well as rotating animals in and out from their night houses to their outdoor habitats. I am also responsible for helping to prepare the daily diets for animals such as the Florida Black Bears, Aldabra Tortoises, Malaysian Tigers, Jaguars, Otters, and Koalas. I help to prepare different types of enrichment, both on and off habitat, as well as helping people find their way around the property, or answering any questions they may have. I participate in training and behavioral care with the zoologists.

I am responsible for monitoring patients under anesthesia, preparing patients for surgery by intubating and placing catheters. I perform dental procedures, take x-rays, draw and run blood, perform bandage changes, wound repairs, and medical maintenance for patients. Vaccinations, exams, behavioral medicine, and emergency or reported medical concerns for the over 800 dogs on the property, are a large part of my responsibilities. When emergency cases present themselves, I am part of the team that intakes, stabilizes, and develops a treatment plan.

As a K-9 care specialist I had the responsibility of keeping dogs and their living spaces clean and healthy. I also provided information to potential adopters on the dogs in the area I worked. I worked in almost every area on the 33-acre property and needed to know over 800 dogs. I would observe behavior and form playgroups of dogs in order to allow for enrichment and potential demonstrations for adopters. I often ran one of our general population buildings where I was responsible for two or three staff members and between 75 and 100 dogs, as well as managing all adopters and any volunteers.

I was responsible for bathing dogs from China, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and all over the United States, as well as walking them around the property and spending time with them in order to help them become more comfortable with people. This gave them a better chance of being adopted. After volunteering for about five months, I was asked to apply for a job, and began working part time towards the end of June 2020.