Day Eleven

Wednesday. Again. Wednesdays mark the beginnings of the new weeks at the Center. I look forward to Wednesdays because I am forever a scholar.

I have been in school for as long as I remember, and this is the first time ever that I do not have some form of education occurring either in the summer or starting in the fall. I decided to take a gap year to take a break from school (I was getting seriously burned out spring quarter, and only barely completed everything on time. It was a tough quarter mentally, because it was my last), go to work and save up some money. I also wanted to retake the GRE and see if I could improve my essay and math scores. I also want to get in a good graduate school, because I feel that with my hearing loss, the higher the degree I receive, the likelier it is that I will get a good job.

This is the reason why I ran myself ragged during my undergrad, and why I am probably going to run myself ragged in graduate school. I needed a break somewhere in between to kind of "detox."

However, I love learning. I love being tested, and receiving confirmation that I did/am doing well. That is why Wednesdays are my favorite days at the Center. We have a class and the keepers usually give a presentation or talk about something relating to the Center, animal care, or the animals themselves.

During the presentation, we learned about chemical immobilization. It is nothing new to me, having watched multiple horses being gelded. However, it was definitely new to learn about the different stages of anesthesia. There are four main stages, the first stage being physically unable to move but still able to feel and know what is going on, and the fourth stage being cardiac and respiratory arrest.

The ideal stages for an animal (and human) to be in when they are put under is stages two or three. This is when the organism is unconscious and there is enough pain relief so that it does not feel pain, but at the same time the organism is not so deeply unconscious that it has difficulties breathing.

We also discussed the methods of immobilizing - either by giving the animal a shot via needle, a blow gun, or a carbon dioxide (CO2) powered bolt action rifle. The third is only used with large animals because if one decided to use this to shoot a smaller cat, the impact of the dart would be enough to break a bone in these animals.

Next, we took the time to go outside and observe the different tools. One was a standard syringe and needle, then there was a "gun" - the CO2 rifle - and a metal tube. The tube was the blow gun.

The keepers had set up a bale of hay against a picnic table, then placed a cardboard poster on the table. On the poster was a drawing of a tiger with three "targets" on it. These targets are where it is the safest to shoot on an animal. Anywhere else and the animal could be seriously hurt or killed. These safe spots are on the neck, the shoulder, and the rump.

The interns were allowed to shoot with the blow gun, and it became sort of a game. Some of us were crack shots, and others were not so good. Regardless, we are now prepared with the knowledge in case of an emergency.

Note Carolyn's amazing drawing.
Photo courtesy of Haley Heniff