Vet School to offer Phila. zoo special services

Following a difficult year for the Philadelphia Zoo, the School of Veterinary Medicine has begun a two-year program to provide special services for the zoo's animals. The project is a continuation of a "long-standing cooperative relationship," Vet School spokesperson Helma Weeks said. She explained that although the zoo has its own veterinary staff, it needs specialized services once or twice a month. For the next two years, the Vet School will provide those services at no cost. "This past year has been a very difficult one for the zoo," said Keith Hinshaw, the zoo's vice president of animal health. He cited the Christmas Eve fire that killed 23 primates and financial problems that plagued the zoo. Vet School Associate Dean Barry Stupine explained that the school's non-profit status prevented it from directly helping the zoo financially. "[But], in a small way, we wanted to help them in their time of need," Stupine said. Hinshaw said the two-year time frame was a "generous offer." He added that the relationship between the two institutions began in the 1970s when Vet School alumnus Wilbur Amand became one of the first veterinarians on the zoo's staff. Since then, there has been a "constant interchange of information" between the zoo and the Vet School, Hinshaw said. He explained that the zoo relies on its relationship with the University because the Vet School has "vet specialists in almost every field you can think of." For example, if a zoo veterinarian found a "small retinal change in a tiger," they could come to the Vet School to find a specialist who has the proper equipment and has looked into "thousands of cats' eyes," Hinshaw said. In return, members of the zoo staff will give occasional seminars and workshops on different zoo-related issues or lectures in connection with the zoo mammal medicine elective offered for third-year Vet School students, he added. Hinshaw said fourth-year students can also apply to the zoo for an elective clinical rotation. The zoo accepts eight students each year and "almost all of them are from Penn." Stupine said Vet School Dean Alan Kelly met with the zoo's president to present the plan. Stupine said Vet School faculty members consider the zoo a "wonderful institution" and "regional resource." He added that this new policy has made them "feel like good neighbors."