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News for the month of October 2003

A Hearty Thanks to the Sanctuaries Silent Partners - Our Highly Qualified Veterinarians of Exotic Wildlife

David and I have decided to dedicate the October 2003 Sanctuary Chronicle to its team of tremendously talented Veterinarians who dedicate their time and expertise insuring the health of its residents. We are extremely fortunate to have a team of highly qualified veterinarians that specialize (in some cases exclusively) in the care of Exotic Wildlife. We would like to thank Dr. Don Harris & Dr. Marc Kramer of ?Avian and Exotic Animal Medical Clinic?, and Dr. Tim Tristian who is in Texas.

As you can imagine, most vets would not appreciate you bringing in a 600-pound tiger into their waiting room for some blood work, stitches, or a general check up. Even if for some reason they would allow it, 99% of them would have no clue on the proper anesthesia and a host of other very ?Species Specific? medical requirements and handling procedures. It takes allot of skill to draw blood from the femoral artery of a Ruffed Lemur diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure with almost no cardiac output! It takes major talent to knock down 7 tigers, draw their blood for their annual check up, and then reverse the anesthesia waking them all up with-in two hours as if they had no idea what just occurred. Not to mention knowing how to keep them from overheating during the process. Our vets are the FINEST in South Florida and in Texas and we are very thankful to have them on board. These doctors go to great lengths to not only work on our highly difficult and unusual cases; but they also discount their services to us as much as possible. This is another reason David and I are so thankful for their involvement. People have no idea the extreme cost it takes to properly house and maintain just one tiger or lemur, much less 7 tigers and other big cat, as well as a gazillion lemurs and a host of other resident animals. Then on top of this, add in routine vet care, emergency vet care, and maintenance veterinary care, this cost can be staggering. A one inch long cut on the pad of a cougars paw can turn out to be hundreds if it gets infected, not to mention months of special attention and housing. Multiply this by the number of residents we care for and you could easily spend a ton of money. So if it were not for the fact that Doctors Harris, Kramer, and Tristian discount their services to us, our vet bills would be biblical.

Keep in mind, it is not unusual for us to have to call and wake our vets up at 3 am to rush over for an emergency stitch, or phone consultation. Our vets are always on call 24 hours a day. In most cases we can bring the smaller mammals and reptiles to the Clinic; but as you can imagine the adult tigers, lions, leopards cougars do require them visiting the Sanctuary. David and I wanted to write on this subject because we both felt that our viewers had no clue of this side of the Sanctuaries runnings and would find it interesting to learn about how important it is to have quality veterinarians on your team.

Veterinarians who care more about improving the lives of their patients then gouging their owners for every ridiculous penny they can get. Unfortunately we have had our experiences with not only poor quality vets, but vets with questionable ethics, morals and money whoring tendency's ;-)! For this we are so thankful to have finally put together a quality veterinary team. A team that works together without egos. Dr. Harris, Kramer and Tristian are internationally renowned vets who will not hesitate to get on the internet to contact 1000's of other vets for consults or 2nd opinions, thus strengthening our team even more. Avian & Exotic Animal Medical Clinic is by far the nicest veterinary facility we have been in with the exception of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida. Dr. Harris and Dr. Kramer have personally designed and created Avian & Exotic to meat the specific needs of exotic animals. Dr. Harris?s expertise with rare and endangered birds is legendary amongst both the public and his piers. I am sure many of have seen him on TV with his famous case of creating functional prosthetic limbs on an injured Cockatoo. I could go on and on detailing the multiple accomplishments and talents of these three vets, but I will stop because it is getting late and I have to go feed the nocturnal Bushbabies their late night mealworm treats. We hope we were able to properly convey our thanks to our great veterinary team as well as to inform our visitors with some insight into the quality care our animals receive. As always, keep on watching and learning.

Remember, there are many ways to help the cause. Here are a few.

1) Tell everyone you know about the website. By increasing the number of visitors, we increase the awareness of the danger these wonderful creatures face.
2) If you have a website, link to us - http://www.tigerhomes.org/
3) Submit our site http://www.tigerhomes.org/ to any webcam sites you may visit.
4) Make a donation to the sanctuary. There is an area on the gift shop for those who want to contribute.
5) Purchase items from the gift shop. They make great gifts and are for a worthy cause.
6) Adopt a pet. It's a great way to virtually own one of the sanctuary animals.

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Remember, our main mission is to spread an interest in saving wild animals and wild places but we can't do it alone.

Story by: Jason and David