But as often, the animals face logistical and political threats: 16 already-stressed dolphins who must be flown in water tanks from four different cities in the United States to their new home in the Bahamas after Hurricane Katrina; a breast-feeding baby beluga whale who needs a surrogate mother of any species; a young white rhino in Botswana whom poachers had robbed of his family and filled with semiautomatic slugs.
The 28 stories are well-written and well-edited, short but generous with information and drama. The personal aspect adds much insight: Here’s a vet who can’t help but fear insects, especially when they leap at her face and fly into her hair, but who must de-mite the dung beetles in the children’s zoo by hand; the one who tries mightily to keep her feelings objective when treating the lemur who seems to have the same unidentified condition which is crippling her own mother.
Some of the stories are darker. A solitary bull elephant has a snare tightly wrapped around his leg, a one-way ticket to a slow, painful and horrific death in the back country of Gabon. He must be tracked over miles of savanna, maneuvered into a cul-de-sac so he’s close enough to anesthetize, then surgery and huge doses of antibiotics must somehow be delivered.
Bactrian camels in the Mongolian Gobi Desert — with only 500 individuals remaining among the rarest animals in the world — must have GPS radio collars placed so scientists can track their movements in an effort to guard their territory. Just finding the camels is difficult, but the temperature of -13 degrees Fahrenheit means the vehicle, the darting equipment and the collar, not to mention the vet’s hands, must be warmed before each collar can be put on a camel.
And some of the stories are amusing. If your 5-year-old goldfish had a tumor, would you fly her across the country to a fish surgeon? And can you imagine performing surgery and calculating chemotherapy dosages for a goldfish?
Gaining insight into the dedication of these vets adds to the respect the reader has for professionals in all rigorous careers.
Learning of the often-unpublicized situations faced by many of these animals widens his awareness of everything’s tenuousness on the earth. And while contemplating some of the natural, accidental and human disasters which seem to impact individual animals as hard or harder than they do people does darken one’s outlook, the victories won at great cost for single creatures and whole species which are also reflected here add a singular benefit to The Rhino with Glue-on Shoes and other surprising stories of zoo vets and their patrons.
Oh, and the rhino with glue-on shoes? Like horses, greater one-horned rhinos are vulnerable when it comes to their feet. Mohan, a male at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., lived on concrete, which wore down his toenails, making his soles and main foot pads bear his entire, huge weight.
The feet consequently stayed infected. He was so bothered by the pain and the frequent surgery required to keep him comfortable that he refused to breed.
The zoo vets could do the work, but it took a consulting country vet to fix the problem.
You guessed it: rhino shoes. Oh, and yes, a move for him and his female, Mechi, to a wetter, swampier and warmer climate.