Conservation Veterinary Nursing

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Day 11

April 21, 2018

The final morning at the centre, I spent medicating the animals and completing all of the medical records and zims notes. A final opportunity to take photos, before saying my good byes to the staff and animals. We packed our bags; mine much lighter heading home without all of the dressing materials! We stopped on the way back to Hanoi at Van Long nature reserve and wetlands. It is also one of the last wild refuges of the endangered Delacour’s Langur, unfortunately we were not luckily enough to see any. However the boat tour through the wetlands was so relaxing with the limestone cliffs creating a dramatic and beautiful landscape. Arriving in Hanoi was a shock; the traffic, the amount of people and buzz of never ending activity was crazy! A system overload after a tranquil 11 days in the National Park. However the luxury hotel we had booked for one night, with a rain shower, clean fluffy towels and a roof top bar was not to be complained about! Even though

Day 10

April 20, 2018

Day 10 was the final light therapy session. Throughout the morning I worked with Huong, assessing each wound, cleaning, flushing, debriding and putting treatment plans together going forward. With such good results seen with the previous Manuka honey dressing used, we added this to a second treatment plan and hoped for the same results. The ongoing eye treatment was given and the eyes of the individuals reassessed. After lunch one individual was given a warm bath under sedation, he had a history of a skin infection and inflammation and had been receiving weekly baths and oral medication. This was now almost healed with just a few very minor areas of dermatitis dorsally. To clean in-between th e scales chlorhexidine and a toothbrush was used, not many people can say they have bathed and scrubbed a pangolin with a toothbrush! We had our last dinner at the restaurant and said good bye to the rest of the volunteers.

Day 9

April 19, 2018

Day 9 and sadly only a few more days here. The first job of the morning was to give any required medication to the pangolins, including both oral medication and eye drops. The animal we had surgically removed a two scales on a few days ago was due a bandage change and wound check. This was incredibly difficult as the animal was very stressed being restrained. It was defiantly the quickest bandage I have ever removed and replaced. Going forward this particular individual would need to be managed carefully with as minimal intervention as possible, to reduce stress but still facilitate wound healing. I helped Huong analyse some routine faecal samples in house with faecal floatation and parasite identification. Then dispensing subsequent worming treatment where required. I was off for the afternoon as I was heading back to the centre to join in the night feed and see the pangolins and carnivores active. Several of the volunteers and I spent the afternoon in the forest, vis

Day 8

April 18, 2018

Day 8 was session 5 of light therapy. I dispensed and made up the required medication for all of the pangolins and carnivores first thing. Defrosting some ant eggs that they are fed and mixing the medication in before feeding to them. My veterinary assistant for the day was again another of the volunteers who helped with careful restraint of the animals whilst I treated each of them. The light therapy and wound treatment took most of the morning. Not all of the pangolins co-operated with one sleeping outside at the top of a branch (which it did regularly), its tail wasn’t particularly accessible but we tried. After lunch we anaesthetised an individual with respiratory disease to reassess. She was very difficult to assess conscious, as soon as she was disturbed she became very vocal hissing and grunting so it was impossible to auscultate her conscious. It is essential that they are cleaned out regularly as the build-up of ammonia can lead to respiratory disease and pneumo

Day 7

April 17, 2018

Day 7 we anaesthetised an adult pangolin for further assessment of a tail abscess, he was particularly difficult to manage conscious, getting extremely stressed when handled and made it impossible to examine or treat, as he curled his tail over his head leaving us no access to the abscess on the mid ventral tail! Stress is a big welfare factor to consider, and from their experience the vets believe it is also a large contributor to death of captive pangolins. Once anaesthetised he could be examined thoroughly, the abscess was small, bursting out between two scales but a fairly deep pocket, and with a lot of purulent exudate. It was decided that to enable the best chance of healing, the two adjacent scales would have to be removed. It is often these small problems that can lead to further issues and tail necrosis resulting in partial tail amputations, if they are not treated early on. Preparation for surgery consisted of scrubbing the surrounding scales with a tooth brush and hib

Day 6

April 16, 2018

Day 6 was a busy morning, the Leopard cat that had arrived to the centre only three days previous required a health check and examination. The cat was refusing to eat any food offered, and we had tried everything! He was visibly skinny and we were concerned about dehydration so it was vital he was assessed and given supportive care. Despite being weak he still gave the keepers a difficult time in catching him, in the end walking in to the induction box on his own. Once asleep it was clear he was very skinny and malnourished, dehydrated and with some previous healed limb and digit fractures which hadn’t hindered his movement but would require a full assessment if/when he was fit for release. I monitored the anaesthetic and gave fluids whilst Hai fully examined him and also gave him wormer (he had a heavy burden of intestinal parasites which would also affect his health and weight), a vitamin solution and glucose. There was a keeper poised with thick gauntlets ready

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