Bioparque Amaru Wildlife and Zoo Clinic: 2015 Update

Bioparque Amaru Wildlife and Zoo Clinic in Cuenca, Ecuador: Summer 2015 Update

Welcome back to Amaru, Razoo fundraiser supporters and new readers! 

My name is Nikki Becich. I'm a veterinary student at Tufts Cummings School of Veterianry Medicine working as a field associate for the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I'm here to give you all an update on the state of our new and expanding Wildlife and Zoo clinic at Amaru! You can read more about what's been going on at Amaru over the past year from my previous post this summer (click here!), or stay tuned for an upcoming post about how the vet from the National Aviary, vet students from four schools and two countries, and the new Amaru zookeepers got together to work on health surveys, medical training, and brainstorming for improvement projects in the coming year!

If you're unfamiliar with Bioparque Amaru, you can visit their new website (English version coming soon!) here: BIOPARQUE AMARU. Or, if you'd like a bit of backstory on the collaboration between Bioparque Amaru Zoo and the aviary, keep reading. 

Bioparque Amaru Zoo is a facility that serves as a Wildlife rescue center for injured and confiscated native and non-native exotic species in the southern Ecuaorian Andes. The Ecuadorian Environmental Ministry brings the grand majority of animals confiscated from wildlife trafficking and injured in cities in the southern Andes and subtropics directly to Amaru for treatment and care. Most of these animals can't be released due to old injury and/or extensive periods in captivity, and thus become residents of the zoo. There are now over 800 animals housed on zoo grounds in Cuenca, where they teach visitors about the need to protect Ecaudor's flora, fauna and ecosystems. The zoo is run by a small number of dedicated individuals doing as much as they can with how little they have to promote a greater understanding of human-environmental conflicts, and how they can help conserve native species. They are a research (see the Center for Conservation of Amphibians at Amaru) and rescue facility teaching an appreciation of nature in a large metropolitan area, and your support helps them keep doing what they're doing better!

In October of 2013, we put together a Razoo (think Kickstarter) fundraiser to raise the initial funds for a desperately needed on-site veterinary facility. With $10,000 from that first venture, and financial support from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA (see website and story here) Amaru built the basics of what, in summer of 2015, began functioning as the zoo's first clinic. 

You can see the beginnings of the clinic in this post and the pictures below. 

Bioparque Amaru Clinic, April 2014. 

Bioparque Amaru Clinic, May 2014. 

Bioparque Amaru Clinic, May 2014. 

Summer 2015: Two countries, two zoos, three vet schools, and two vets in the clinic

We made a lot of advancements towards better medical care for incoming and residential animals at Amaru in the clinic this summer, thanks to the support of the National Aviary and their head veterinarian, Dr.Pilar Fish. Bioparque Amaru Zoo is training and working with a Venezuelan veterinarian, Dr. Katherine Costa, with the hopes that she will stay on full-time at the zoo. Dr.Fish, with students Tim Beichner from Kansas State Veterinary School, Walker Roberts from University of Florida Veterinary School, Kira Hydock from Penn State Veterinary school, and myself, helped train and teach Dr.Katherine and the zookeepers at Amaru in the handling, care, and medical evaluation of many of the zoo’s animals during a multi-week visit in July of this year (blog entry to come!). 

We did most of our medicine this summer in the clinic’s first exam room, filled with donated medical supplies and drugs from our respective vet schools and the National Aviary. Amaru’s still got a long way to go before the clinic is fully functional, but water, electricity, a fridge and freezer for drugs and specimens, a microscope for diagnostics, and basic surgical and necropsy tools mean that for the first time, there’s an on-site hospital at the zoo. 

Check out how far it’s come in the last two years!

Amaru's first microscope! Tortoise abscess cytology, psittacine differentials, squirrel monkey fecals...it did it all!

Dr.Fish explaining  specialized husbandry for confiscated Galapagos tortoises to Dr.Katherine Costa of Venzuela.

Dr.Fish and Ernesto Arbelaez, director of the zoo, with National Aviary donations to the clinic. 

From left to right: Walker Roberts, Kira Hydock, me (Nikki!), Tim Beichner. Organizing clinic donation supplies!

With the nueva doctora in front of her clinic! 

Ernesto with the students over the teaching window built over the future surgical suite. 

Dr.Fish making reccomendations for future intensive care units, neonatal care rooms, and labs. 

A juvenile squirrel monkey slated for enrichment and socialization regimens to decrease its stress and normalize its behavior naturally, per Dr.Fish's recommendations. 

Visiting Amaru's Center for Conservation of Amphibians, with Dr.Fausto Sivichay, to discuss breeding programs, husbandry, and medicine for critically endangered Atelopus frogs. 

Translation services were needed! Here I am translating for Fausto to the rest of our group. 

Two Orange-winged Amazons in the newly constructed outdoor flight aviaries for recuperation of post-quarantine birds and permanently off-exhibit individuals. 

Kira Hydock helping with the husbandry of birds in post-quarantine holding. 

Walker Roberts preening a critically endangered Gray-cheeked parakeet, once an illegal pet, and now an Amaru resident. 

Dr.Katherine Costa with the juvenile squirrel monkey pictured earlier, preparing for a training and enrichment session. 

Necropsy of a once-thought-to-be-extinct Atelopus species that died of egg-binding. 

Much of the captive husbandry of the Atelopus species is still unknown. Research on their natural history is crucial for informing captive breeding and conservation programs like the ones at Amaru's CCA. 

Teaching pathology and necropsy of animals at Amaru is an important part of understanding mortalities in the zoo, and how to save other animals from the same fate. 

Teaching field medicine 

Triage of juvenile Barn Owls in the clinic. 

Blood draw setup for summer research on hemoparasites in psittacines and raptors. 

Dr.Fish orchestrating emergency protocols for the juvenile barn owls. 

Blood smears for complete blood count in psittacines and raptors. 

Monitoring weight on the zoo's new arrivals. 

Translating blood draw protocol for Ernesto and visiting vets from the environmental ministry.

Students giving fluids to a dehydrated Barn Owl. 

Squirrel monkey blood smear. 

The zoo clinic's first advanced diagnostic tool!

Dr.Fish helping brainstorm for the future of the clinic. 

Dr.Fish's drawings for future recuperation, rehab and quarantine areas in the clinic. 

Specialized enrichment item diagrams, also courtesy of Dr.Fish. 

The clinic, circa June 2015. 

June 2015

Outdoor flight aviaries for birds in holding off-exhibit, June 2015. 

Future veterinary teaching classroom above the surgery suite, June 2015. 

Ernesto's sister Vicky looking out over the flight aviaries and holding cages from the second floor of the clinic. 

A big thank you from Ernesto Arbelaez, director of Bioparque Amaru Zoo and president of the Ecuadorian Association of Zoos and Aquariums!!

Stay tuned for more updates on our activities this summer! I'll be putting up a post about our research project, ongoing Andean Condor research, and more details about Dr.Fish's visit soon.

If you’re interested in continuing to support Amaru’s efforts through tax-deductible donations via the National Aviary, we will be continuing our Aviary-Amaru internship program and directly supporting the zoo in the coming years. You can use the Aviary’s online donation system to donate to Amaru: choose the option donate to "Conservation and Field Research Department", and put "Ecuador," "Andean Condors," "Bioparque Amaru Zoo" or  how you would like to see the money used in the "In Honor Of" descriptor box.

Here is the link to the online donation system: https://www.aviary.org/Make-a-Donation

The Amaru animals appreciate it!

Cheers,
Nikki Becich
Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, Class of 2018
National Aviary Field Associate and Bioparque Amaru Zoo Intern Program Facilitator