The Department of Conservation Medicine is responsible for the health and wellbeing of all animals living at The Wilds.
Because many of our animals reside in large herds on pastures, the veterinary team often works as an ambulatory service, taking the “hospital” to the animal instead of taking the animal to a physical hospital. This includes the need to obtain radiographs of animals as part of their routine health screen and to diagnose diseases when animals are unwell. But, how does one take radiographs and interpret them in a pasture with no electricity?
In December 2021, The Wilds Department of Conservation Medicine received the most useful holiday gift ever–a Vet Rocket, thanks to generous donations provided at The Wilds’ Gala hosted in October 2021.
The Vet Rocket is the veterinary industry’s first completely battery-powered wireless radiograph imaging system. This system rapidly takes radiographs with state-of-the-art imaging quality, using lightweight, durable equipment that can withstand the weight of a Giraffe’s foot or the body of a Grevy’s zebra. It uses a complete HTML5 Cloud-based DICOM PACS solution to enable viewing and sharing radiographs from anywhere in the world!
Vet Rocket has elevated The Wilds’ capacity to diagnose diseases and improve the wellbeing of the animals in our care, as well as improve collaborations with other zoo veterinarians and veterinary specialists. Its rapid-fire system enables the collection of multiple images in a short period, thus reducing anesthesia time for the animals. (Anesthesia can be risky in non-domestic animals and is only done when necessary.) Thus, by reducing anesthesia time, complications may be reduced as well.
The excellent image quality obtained in the field allows for patient-side viewing and diagnosis followed by targeted treatment promptly. Finally, the cloud-based data storage enables image sharing with board-certified Radiologists when needed. The Wilds is grateful to have passionate donors who contributed to improving animal health and welfare.
