Advanced Wildlife Veterinary Treatment Course

2016 Course Review

On September 25th in Ashbourne Co Meath, vets and vet nurses attended a day course hosted by Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland on Advanced Wildlife Treatment for Veterinary Professionals. The course was accredited by the Veterinary Council of Ireland. Presented by David Couper MRCVS, and Kieran Corry MVB.

Kieran Corry MRCVS introduced himself as a small animal vet who treats wildlife. He initially intended to become a marine mammal vet but after realising that marine mammal veterinary meant either research or working at Sea World, he changed his mind. He has a particular interest in orthopaedic and soft tissue surgery but has a passion for working with wildlife when it comes his way. He now works in Campsie Vet Centre in Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

Kieran spoke about Veterinary obligations around treating wildlife and reminded veterinary professionals that they are obligated to attend to a wildlife casualty in an emergency even though it might just be in the form of providing first aid, then ideally they refer the animal to a wildlife rehabilitator.

He also spoke about rehabilitators’ responsibilities to casualties and the differences between treating and caring for wildlife versus domestic animals.

For severely injured wildlife, managing soft tissue injuries was discussed.

The morning continued with lots of great advice on treatments and handling, and two comprehensive lectures on anaesthesia and fracture management which included anaesthesia techniques and considerations, advanced orthopaedic conditions in wildlife, treatment options for these conditions, and post-operative care.

Following on from Kieran’s lectures, David Cooper MRCVS spoke about the importance of a veterinary examination and history taking when presented with a casualty.

David is the wildlife veterinary officer at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) West Hatch Wildlife Centre in the UK for the past 13 years, where he mainly works with native wildlife.

West Hatch has excellent wildlife rehabilitation facilities with enclosures specifically designed for housing wildlife, and a fully equipped veterinary examination room and operating theatre.

The Centre treats thousands of animals from Southern England every year.

After his lecture on history taking and clinical examination, he went on to speak about common conditions of waterfowl, raptors, passerines and mammals.

Fishing tackle injuries, lead toxicity, and developmental conditions such as ‘angel wing’, were among the most common conditions he encounters.

After lunch, there were practical sessions so the vets and vet nurses could gain hands-on experience in handling techniques and clinical examination of a selection of our Irish wild birds, bats and other large mammals. This included applying wing bandages, gavaging birds, and the more specialised veterinary techniques such as peritoneal and intraosseous fluid therapy, fracture repair and management.

Both of the course instructors; David and Kieran, are experts in the field of wild animal management so the vet and vet nurse delegates were given a great insight into the handling, capture and restraint of wild animals. The delegates were then given the opportunity to practice all the techniques shown by the instructors.

As the class was split up into small groups, the instructors were able to easily give plenty of individual attention to each delegate. Many vets and nurses had different species-specific interests which were excellently addressed by each instructor.

The vets and vet nurses who attended this course went away with a greater understanding of just how important their role is when dealing with wildlife, and that of history taking from the member of the public who brings the casualty to them for treatment.

Vet clinics sometimes see wildlife casualties as something they wish they could avoid, but practices that treat injured and orphaned wildlife are highly respected and admired by their clients and the public, which in turn; via social media and word of mouth, increases their client numbers.

These practices benefit by being identified as compassionate and caring to all animals, clients trust these practices more, and hence have greater confidence in them should their own domestic animals need help.

A WRI survey published in the Veterinary Journal (‘Wildlife seen, treatment and outcomes in Irish veterinary hospitals and clinics’) highlighted the role veterinarians play in wildlife conservation — over 3000 casualties were brought into Irish clinics in a single year.

Encouragingly, there are more and more veterinary practices willing to help wildlife and referring wildlife calls to experienced wildlife rehabilitators for advice. As awareness of the Irish Wildlife Matters website
www.irishwildlifematters.ie
increases, so too does the number of casualties referred to these rehabilitators for ongoing care following the provision of veterinary first aid and stabilisation treatment.

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