QUOTE] I have 1,500 hrs vet experience in exotics
Hi Sumsstorm, how did you manage to get such an immpressive number of hours in zoo vet experience. I've found getting actual vet experince in that field very hard and would love to get more.
BTW your stats sound great. You will get in, no sweat!
[/quote][/quote]
Wildzoovet, I worked as a curator at the Louisiana Purchase Gardens & Zoo. It isn't an easy position to obtain and the hours tend to be long and stressful. I actually had to track hours because I worked for a city, and during the winters I averaged 56 hours/wk, spring and fall 67 hours/wk, and summer 81hrs/wk. I actually had a cot in my office and slept at the zoo a few nights a week in the summer (and no, I didn't count that time as working!)
I was responsible for a hands-on contact collection of exotic animals (thinks like kinkajous, coatimundi, armadillos, owls, alligators, etc.) which included designing and implementing husbandry programs and maintaining general wellness. I worked with our zoo vet (he tracked which hours he spent in what department) an average of 7 hours a week (again, variable by season) and observed or assisted an average of 3 hours a week in other departments (again tracked by his records.) The work in other areas of the zoo was generally due to something unusual happening (we had to pin together a shattered leg on a puma) or something that required a lot of hands in the effort (routine physicals of primates where the entire troop needed to be knocked down together, examined individually, then aroused under observation.) So, I averaged 10 hours a week x 50 weeks a year x 3 yrs.
My best advice for getting face time with a zoo vet is to ask to observe without hands on. Be prepared to be a go-for. Pick smaller zoos to try, because bigger zoos are more concerned about liability. If you have any contacts with anyone in the government that owns a zoo, go that route (even if that contact is uncle jimmy's friend james went to school with director of human resources) because we had people schlepped on us all the time due to such contacts (and if you don't have such contacts, try to figure out who the zoo director answers to, or a major donor, or someone working in the zoo....favors and good PR mean a lot) and while it annoyed us, if they turned out to be a really hard working, cheerful, on the ball individual, we were happy to keep them around.
Liability is a HUGE issue for zoos, and well meaning people are the worst about doing stupid things around exotic animals. And don't share how much you 'love' animals of any sort. Generally, and this is also true during animal rescue operations post disaster, people who love animals often are just clueless. I would focus on your willingness to be hands off and just observe, your willingness to do data mining for vets (ie when the sloth gets sick, you would be willing to sit at a computer tracking down what zoos have sloths, who their vets are, and then place tons of calls asking staff to have the vet call back to speak to Dr. soandso), and your interest in exotic veterinary medicine as a field. Reading up on some of the hot topics in zoos is another thing (exhibitving vs ranging, insemination issues, genetic issues, conservation, importation, etc.)
Also, if you are in a zoo, never get in the way during procedures. That sounds obvious, but if your removing a single animal from a multianimal unit, it can be really hard. We gracefully exited more volunteers from zoo keeper and vet areas becaues they were in the way than anything else. And, just like I say for shadowing, showing that you are willing to give something back can make a difference. We had some freshman do a very basic report on the duck species in our lagoon, get an A, sent a copy to our director, and end up getting some face time with our vet.
). The schools that don't take grad GPA into account probably do so because they realize that so little of a thesis-based MS or a PhD is about the classes and grades, and it's about your ability to do scientific research.
