Schools With Strong Exotic Animal Programs

[Xypathos]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm interested in schools that offer strong programs in exotic animals -- african mammals, snakes, fish, monkeys, penguins, etc. Essentially the kind of vet. you'd find in a zoo or working in the Outback or Serengeti.

I seem to be having some problems finding schools with strong programs in this area but most schools seem to just offer a course or two in the field.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ri23]

There aren't a lot of schools that offer strong programs in those areas, but most schools will help you find internships/externships that will allow you to develop skills with those types of animals. Most schools will give you a strong basis in small and large animal medicine and then you will have to do intensive studying after school to become a proficient zoo veterinarian.

 

[chris03333]

I'm interested in schools that offer strong programs in exotic animals -- african mammals, snakes, fish, monkeys, penguins, etc. Essentially the kind of vet. you'd find in a zoo or working in the Outback or Serengeti.

I seem to be having some problems finding schools with strong programs in this area but most schools seem to just offer a course or two in the field.

Any help would be appreciated.

K State has a decent zoo program

 

[polo vet]

maybe florida

 

[pressmom]

Tennessee has a dedicated exotics rotation 4th year for all students. They also have at least two dedicated doctors on staff that I have met just a (basically) a pfrosh. One avian specialist and one who does zoo work.

 

[kate_g]

Check out Davis and Wisconsin, which apparently have the top two exotic/zoo caseloads in terms of numbers (according to one of the zoo/exotic vets at Wisc). Both have zoo/exotics residency programs, which obviously you can only have if you've got a pretty high caseload. Davis is more split up, with a dedicated pet exotics facility, a couple different wildlife outreach programs, and a zoo program. They have a pile of different zoo, exotic, and wildlife-related elective courses during the preclinical years, which I think is really cool. Wisconsin is kind of combined all together - though they don't really do domestic wildlife because there's a really great wildlife rehab organization in town (you can rotate there though). I think there really aren't many pre-clinical electives at Wisc, but interested students meet with the two zoo/exotic faculty as an informal group every month or so. Both Davis and Wisconsin have a primate center on campus, though only Davis has formal elective rotation there (at Wisc you'd basically have to set it up like an externship). The zoo/exotic faculty I've spoken to at both schools are very friendly and enthusiastic. Davis has a student zoo/wildlife/aquatics club that does a lot of neat wet labs, I forget whether Wisconsin has one.

Minnesota has a really fantastic raptor rehab center (an injured California condor got airlifted there rather than Davis, even though it was obviously much further away, because of their expertise). But I didn't get the impression they had a ton of other wildlife stuff, and you sound like you want some variety.

EDIT: Since you mentioned the Serengeti... One of Wisconsin's zoo/exotics faculty is also heavily involved in some international outreach programs. I don't remember if they've got one in Africa yet, but they go to Thailand, Mexico, somewhere else in South America... Like five different sites all together. You can get funding to pay for your trip. They do livestock stuff with the local residents as well as study whatever the local wildlife happens to be.

 

[jfitzpatri8]

Tufts is excellent. More expensive, but excellent in wildlife.

 

[LaRue]

Check out Davis and Wisconsin, which apparently have the top two exotic/zoo caseloads in terms of numbers (according to one of the zoo/exotic vets at Wisc). Both have zoo/exotics residency programs, which obviously you can only have if you've got a pretty high caseload. Davis is more split up, with a dedicated pet exotics facility, a couple different wildlife outreach programs, and a zoo program. They have a pile of different zoo, exotic, and wildlife-related elective courses during the preclinical years, which I think is really cool. Wisconsin is kind of combined all together - though they don't really do domestic wildlife because there's a really great wildlife rehab organization in town (you can rotate there though). I think there really aren't many pre-clinical electives at Wisc, but interested students meet with the two zoo/exotic faculty as an informal group every month or so. Both Davis and Wisconsin have a primate center on campus, though only Davis has formal elective rotation there (at Wisc you'd basically have to set it up like an externship). The zoo/exotic faculty I've spoken to at both schools are very friendly and enthusiastic. Davis has a student zoo/wildlife/aquatics club that does a lot of neat wet labs, I forget whether Wisconsin has one.

Minnesota has a really fantastic raptor rehab center (an injured California condor got airlifted there rather than Davis, even though it was obviously much further away, because of their expertise). But I didn't get the impression they had a ton of other wildlife stuff, and you sound like you want some variety.

EDIT: Since you mentioned the Serengeti... One of Wisconsin's zoo/exotics faculty is also heavily involved in some international outreach programs. I don't remember if they've got one in Africa yet, but they go to Thailand, Mexico, somewhere else in South America... Like five different sites all together. You can get funding to pay for your trip. They do livestock stuff with the local residents as well as study whatever the local wildlife happens to be.

I realize this is an extremely old post, but decided to comment anyway. This definietly helped me a lot! I had wisconsin on my list for a while, but couldn't find anything except for a primate center. Thank you for the detailed post because now Wisconsin is my number three 🙂🙂

 

[LaRue]

Cross that XD I was just updated.........does anyone know of any current schools with an exotic concentration or a mixed concentration (small/med animals and exotic)?

Besides NC State, Cornell, and LSU?

 

[prevetdreamer]

I think Tennessee and Davis still have pretty good exotic/wildlife opportunities. But I think if you go to any school and get a good base education, you can get an internship in zoo or exotic or whatever and I think you can get a pretty thorough education that way. Also, when I toured Oregon, they said they have a program where in your fourth year if there is a rotation at another school that you want to take that isn't available at Oregon, you can take that rotation at the other school. That's the first time I heard about that so idk if it is available at other schools or not... but he made it sound like you could go to any school for a rotation if theres one you want to take. which would be way cool!

 

[jmo1012]

Cross that XD I was just updated.........does anyone know of any current schools with an exotic concentration or a mixed concentration (small/med animals and exotic)?

Besides NC State, Cornell, and LSU?

a lot of our exotics lovers go to UGA for their clinical year because of the excellent opportunities there. not sure how their actual program works though

 

[Abnerrs]

K State has a decent zoo program

Exactly what I was going to say. The vet I work for works with exotics and she went to K-State and loved it.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Two of our first year pathology residents are from UGA and I'm very impressed with their exotics knowledge that they picked up there. I don't know the exact opportunities or classes they took, but they definitely came away with a good bit.

 

[Plops]

Tufts is excellent. More expensive, but excellent in wildlife.

Seconding this. My friend just graduated from Tufts vet school with a focus in exotic/wildlife medicine, and I got to follow him around once during his internship at a wildlife clinic. He has nothing but good stuff to say about the experience (except, you know, the massive debt thing).

 

[SnowyRox]

You can do rotations during your fourth year at any other school. So you can attend Minnesota and take advantage of a cool rotation at KSU.

You can do externships during the summer anywhere in the world. You don't need a fancy agreement with your school to do these. Maybe the agreement will allow you to do a little less homework, but I guarantee you googling and networking will turn up plenty of opportunities.

Plus, if you graduate from a "cheap" vet school, you will have less loans and can do an internship & residency with less guilt and adding less years until you're debt-free.

Do a search on SDN and you'll find a lot of these threads. Edinburgh used to be a great place to go for zoo med, but they lost their relationship with the zoo this year for some undisclosed reason.

 

[Helloxkitty22]

K State, Sunset Zoo is 5 min from campus and its easy to get exotic experience there. the vet at the zoo I interned at went there! there strength in exotics is the main reason I am excited to go there

 

[LaRue]

So I think I modified my career goal.

I want to have a focus on companion animals, but also gain like a specialty in exotics. Basically I don't want to solely work in zoological medicine.

So I'm going to apply to VMRCVM, NCSU, and Wisconsin. NCSU has an exotics program, the other two I'll just gain experience on my own. My other options of vet schools (Iowa and Auburn) I marked them as "expensive." I marked LSU, Cornell, Tufts, and a few others "super-expensive."

Kansas isn't on my list because I haven't taken public speaking (and don't really have room for it).

 

[JoAnna423]

Plus, if you graduate from a "cheap" vet school, you will have less loans and can do an internship & residency with less guilt and adding less years until you're debt-free.

I agree with this. My boss was telling me, and it makes sense that if you plan to do exotics plan to not get paid much of anything for 4-5 years...and then plan to get paid below the average salary after that. My idea would be to go to a vet school that was cheap (IS or whatever) if you want to do exotics and try to get externships or outside rotation experience. An internship or residency pretty much pays nothing...I can imagine doing IBR on 160k of debt much easier than I can 300k.

This is my plan at least. 😀

 

[UofIllinois13]

I may be biased as this is where I go for undergrad but the University of Illinois has an incredible wildlife clinic. As a pre-vet and veterinary student you have the opportunity to be a member on a volunteer team and perform treatments on animals ranging from bald eagles to beavers!

I am this summer's undergraduate intern at the clinic and just in the last couple of months we have had animals like red tailed hawks, coyotes, white-tailed deer, great-horned owls, american kestrels, box turtles, great blue herons, numerous song birds, raccoons, opposums, and much more come into the clinic! Personally, this clinic has been an incredible way to gain hands-on experience with many different species of animals. Plus I feel it gives you a leg-up if you are interested in zoo med as I know that one of Brookfield Zoo's current veterinarian actually started off as a manager of the clinic while she was a veterinary student at U of I.

I hope this helps!

 

[orcagirl]

So I think I modified my career goal.

I want to have a focus on companion animals, but also gain like a specialty in exotics. Basically I don't want to solely work in zoological medicine.

So I'm going to apply to VMRCVM, NCSU, and Wisconsin. NCSU has an exotics program, the other two I'll just gain experience on my own. My other options of vet schools (Iowa and Auburn) I marked them as "expensive." I marked LSU, Cornell, Tufts, and a few others "super-expensive."

Kansas isn't on my list because I haven't taken public speaking (and don't really have room for it).

NCSU is also a "cheap" school. You are eligible to apply for residency after your first year and they have decent in-state tuition.

 

[cloverbug]

I may be biased as this is where I go for undergrad but the University of Illinois has an incredible wildlife clinic. As a pre-vet and veterinary student you have the opportunity to be a member on a volunteer team and perform treatments on animals ranging from bald eagles to beavers!

I am this summer's undergraduate intern at the clinic and just in the last couple of months we have had animals like red tailed hawks, coyotes, white-tailed deer, great-horned owls, american kestrels, box turtles, great blue herons, numerous song birds, raccoons, opposums, and much more come into the clinic! Personally, this clinic has been an incredible way to gain hands-on experience with many different species of animals. Plus I feel it gives you a leg-up if you are interested in zoo med as I know that one of Brookfield Zoo's current veterinarian actually started off as a manager of the clinic while she was a veterinary student at U of I.

I hope this helps!

I totally second this! I am currently waiting to hear back from them but this is my top pick right now for that very reason.