Choosing Seneca Park Zoo: Being a Rochester native, Seneca Park Zoo, home to nearly 100 different species, has always been my home zoo. A couple of years ago, Dr. Chris McKinney, who had worked at the small animal GP my family pets see, transitioned from relief veterinarian to full-time zoo veterinarian. So, as a veterinary student very much interested in a career in zoo medicine, I reached out. And for the past couple of years, as my schedule allowed, I went in for a few days here and there to shadow. This past winter, my schedule finally opened up long enough to facilitate a ~3-week externsh ..read more

Why did you choose to pursue this particular experience? In the summer of 2020, I began working at Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari in Jackson, NJ, as a seasonal warden focusing specifically on the husbandry of various species in the safari park. The following summer, I participated in a pre-veterinary internship. Since entering vet school, I have continued to return home to the safari on holiday breaks. It felt only right that my last summer, prior to entering clinics, be spent at the place that has helped me discover my passion for zoological medicine and continues to challenge me to im ..read more

Do you ever wonder about the approach certain wildlife veterinarians took to get to where they are today? Well, I was fortunate enough to chat with Dr. Jennifer Bloodgood over coffee recently to do just that. In November 2022, Dr. Bloodgood was hired as an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and as a wildlife veterinarian with the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, part of the New York State Wildlife Health Program. Through these two positions, Dr. Bloodgood essentially gets to work on, “anything and everything wild ..read more

   Macho the black rhino greets his adoring fans before undergoing routine venipuncture. My experience as a first-year vet student in 2020 was largely shaped by the pandemic and the many limitations it imposed. When I first learned about the Abilene Zoo in April 2021, it was through a Cornell Zoo and Wildlife Society (ZAWS) lecture given by Dr. Stephanie Carle, the Abilene Zoo’s senior veterinarian, over Zoom. Spending my lunch hour puzzling through case-based questions with my classmates (albeit virtually) offered a glimpse into the many opportunities available to us as veterinary ..read more

There was once a time in my life when I could only dream about performing a physical exam on a sedated jaguar in the Belizean jungle, but that dream, along with many others, became a reality as a student enrolled in Dr. Noha Abou-Madi’s International Experience in Wildlife Health and Conservation course. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CUCVM) has been partnered with the Belize Zoo since 2011 to provide state-of-the-art veterinary care while simultaneously fulfilling the dreams of adventurous veterinary students looking to hone their clinical skills. After having to cancel th ..read more

If Dr. Benjamin Jakobek decides to write a book, I will be first in line to buy it. As he tells me about some of the projects he’s been a part of, including capturing and collaring muskox in Nunavik and working to transport caribou to a protected environment, he is a reminder to all of us aspiring veterinarians that we will one day have the capability and arguably, the responsibility, to help protect wild animals and places around the world. After obtaining his DVM from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2020,  Dr. Jakobek completed a one-year small animal rotating ..read more

For Dr. Zachary Dvornicky-Raymond, a career in conservation may have been an inevitability. An animal lover for as long as he can remember, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond recalls watching the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet as a child and idolizing Steve Irwin. “As I grew up and was attending zoos and learning more about the world, I came to realize that all of the animals that I loved and was so interested in were disappearing. So I always knew I wanted to figure out a way to help them.” While he was certain he wanted to work in wildlife conservation as a child, he wasn’t sure how. Dr. Dvornicky-R ..read more

Dr. Matt Marinkovich always had a passion for wildlife but was initially unsure as to what career path might suit him best. “I always knew I wanted to do something with wildlife or something conservation related, but it took a little while to find what that niche was, whether PhD or vet school. I had a couple experiences at SeaWorld San Diego when I was in undergrad and at the National History Museum in Santa Barbara working with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network that led me to really feel like veterinary medicine was the route to go.” After taking 3 gap years, he began his time at Cornell V ..read more

Q: Where was your internship this summer?! A: In pursuit of a career in zoological medicine, my life has made twists and turns that I could have never imagined. As a Florida girl at heart, I knew I wanted to return to my home state for a summer internship involving wildlife medicine. With the help of my mentor, Dr. Osofsky, Director of the Cornell Wildlife Health Center, I became acquainted with a gem in Northeast Florida: the South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction and Conservation (SEZARC). Directed by Dr. Linda Penfold, SEZARC works on reproduction challenges in several US zoos and aquariu ..read more

Several weeks ago my Block III tutor group was abuzz with the news that our tutor, Dr. Robin Radcliffe, and his colleagues had been honored with the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize in recognition of their work evaluating the efficacy of transporting rhinoceroses by hanging them upside down from helicopters. The prize, awarded every year since 1991, aims to “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.” To those of us in the tutor group interested in conservation and wildlife medicine, it was a welcome reminder that we are surrounded by faculty at Cornell who have done what ca ..read more