by Jackie, December 8, for Book Wolves Blog

The author gathered 29 other zoo vets from all over the world and each contributed a chapter to this fascinating book. “Wildlife vet” would be more accurate, since not all of them work in zoos, some rehabilitate native animals to be re-released back into the wild. Others care for animals not captive at all, but go into jungles to track an elephant with a snare wire on its leg or into the Gobi desert, where jeep engines must be thawed with blowtorches, to monitor endangered wild camels. In fact, every chapter is packed with adventure, fun facts, anecdotes and often, danger. If you

like animals, you will enjoy this book.
That is not to say that each story has a happy ending, some don’t and some, it’s unknown what happened to the animals, especially if they were encountered in the wild. Many of the vets developed innovative treatments: anesthetizing frogs, fixing shoulder bones on raptors, modifying horseshoes to fit the rhino of the title with a foot infection. There’s quite a bit about vets that deal with aquatic creatures, from octopi to sharks to goldfish. It’s a relatively new field, where knowledge is scarce, but growing by leaps and bounds.

Some of the vets use a little too much technical jargon, but it’s not excessive. Many of the chapters should’ve been longer, I could tell there were more adventures that could have been told. But that was probably a case of “leave them wanting more” or perhaps space constraints. It would be nice if there were subsequent volumes either updating these stories or a collection of new ones, but have no idea if more are planned. I was also surprised to see how many of the author vets are married to other vets. There’s a section of color photos of many of the patients described in the book, most looking extra cute. One of a Bactrain(2 humped) camel is especially cuddly. It’s a nice touch to a book that’s already quite a treat to anyone who loves animals and wants to know more about them and the people who are trying to help them.

Delacorte Press 2008 311 pp. ISBN-13:978-0-385-34146-2