I thought I'd give some of the
latest work news.
Many of you have heard of and even seen little Norman, the pygmy falcon I work with. Only some of you have heard that he has been very ill lately. A little over a month ago, he became very lethargic and was taken to our vet hospital where he began to crash. He had a large amount of fluid drained from his abdomen and the vets diagnosed heart disease. After a few days in the hospital, he began to perk up and eat. He even came back home. However, in the last two weeks, he has been to the hospital twice for fluid removal. To tell you the truth, I don't know how long he will be able to hold on. One great thing for all of us is that we are able to say goodbye like we all would want. When he is feeling well, we are able to take him out and bond with him and he is close to his old, feisty self. Here is a picture with him a year ago.
But it is very sad to know it is only a matter of time before we truly say goodbye. He is the most wonderful animal to work with. He is all personality. Where most animals we work with work for food or tolerate us, Norman craves attention, like a dog or cat. He hops out of his nest box when he hears us and cuddles with us when we are bonding. I have pet his back until he fell asleep right on my hand. I have only worked with him for a little over a year, but I fell madly in love with this bird and I know it's the same for everyone who works with him.
The truly amazing thing about this whole situation is our veterinary staff. We already know they are awesome but we gain a whole new appreciation when it is one of our own. They could have euthanized him that first day, but fought to find a treatment option. Let me stress that heart disease has barely been studied in birds and has never been treated in a little guy like ours. The vets prescribed a mammalian heart medication and we have been trying to get the dosage right (and hoping it will work at all). Obviously we have only met with limited success. His meds make him drowsy, so he has never gotten that bright, fierce look back in his eyes, and that is hard to see. But he still comes out to see us and still cuddles, though he sleeps a lot more readily. Right now, we think that his quality of life is still high. But he has reached the ripe old age of 15 and the trainers and vets will do what is best for him. I trust their judgment completely.
On a happier note, we have babies everywhere right now. We have five lion cubs, an okapi calf that recently went on exhibit for the first time, baby flamingos and pelicans, baby antelope (we seem to always have some baby antelope!), two Indian rhinos, a black rhino, and, of course, our baby African elephant. Her name is...well, I will try to spell this but it will be wrong...Inkletkilyainkhozikhota (I wish her name had been added to the
website already!!). We call her Khozi (Cosi) for short. She is two months old now, but here are a couple of pictures from when she was two days old.
Finally, new (relatively) animals in education are Koa (pygmy African hedgehog), Sunny (Cuban iguana), Mad Max (wallaroo), Ruby Roo (red kangaroo), and Bubba (warthog). I am currently training on Zeke, our
Kookaburra. It is slow going as we did not start off on the best foot (which means I was getting bitten...ouch!!), but we are slowly building a repoire in short sessions.
I think that is all. If you have questions about an animal I didn't talk about or about my place of work, let me know! I will talk your ears off.
Labels: animals, work
