A thank you to the veterinarians who care for Teatown’s animal ambassadors

Our animal ambassadors range from raptors to invertebrates and everything in between, and sometimes they need very specialized care. These are the veterinarians who go above and beyond to make sure our animals receive the best care when something goes awry.

Our animal care staff strives to give each animal the best nutrition, enrichment, enclosures, and medical care that they need to keep them healthy. But we wouldn’t be able to do so without the help of our veterinarians. Having so many different species means we need vets who can help both native and exotic wildlife.

Keeping animals healthy does not come cheap! Often our animals need to be seen by specialists which costs more than an average vet visit. Over the years we have been lucky to come across some truly wonderful vets who go the extra mile to help our ambassador stay healthy, all while trying to help us keep costs as low as possible.

While Teatown does not do rehabilitation, many of our animal ambassadors have been through a rehabilitation process prior to coming to live here. All native animals have been deemed non-releasable due to physical handicap caused by injury or because they are no longer wary of humans and are imprinted. Our non-native animals have been taken in from undesirable situations.

During a routine weight check, our volunteer Raptor Crew noticed that Rogue, our red-shouldered hawk, was lethargic and unusually quiet.  A call to Long Island Bird and Exotics Veterinary Clinic resulted in a prompt reply to bring the bird in. Rogue was quickly loaded up and brought to Long Island where Dr. Malka and staff got right to work figuring out what was making Rogue so ill. A cat scan and other tests revealed she had an abnormally large egg that she was unable to pass. Dr. Malka and his staff were able to manually remove the egg, avoiding invasive and costly surgery!  Rogue was sent home with a couple of medications and strict orders to go on a diet. Within a few days our stubborn, vocal red shouldered hawk was back to normal. Since that first incident Rogue has visited Dr. Malka again for the same issue and is now has a hormonal implant! We are incredibly grateful to Dr. Malka and staff for all they have done for Rogue.

Finding a vet who is knowledgeable about reptiles is difficult, so we were lucky to have crossed paths with Dr. Whitman. Dr. Whitman has helped us out many times with our collection of native reptiles (and a few exotics) which all have a medical or physical reason for why they can no longer be in the wild. From a neglected bearded dragon, king snake with a heart condition, and a garter snake with a mangled face needing surgery—we often ask his opinion on situations and he is always available to give advice to better the lives of our animal ambassadors.

When Teatown thinks of a vet we think of Dr. Randell! Dr. Randell and the vet techs at Somers Animal Hospital have been Teatown’s primary source of care since the early 90s, treating every animal—from Gryphon the bald eagle when she required surgery to ferrets that need yearly shots. It would be difficult to pinpoint just one time that Dr. Randell went above and beyond because he and his staff always do!

When Nova the barred owl injured the nictitating membrane (third eyelid) on her eye one evening, it was no question she needed to be seen by an eye specialist. Having worked with Dr. Gaarder before with a rabbit with a blocked tear duct, a salamander with dirt stuck in his eye and a few other odd cases, we sent him photos. His staff gave us an appointment right away and got us in to be seen. Dr. Gaarder and his staff are always so understanding of what our animals needs are, so Nova was able to have her exam and start her treatments with little stress. Nova’s injury was not an easy thing to fix or treat so she had a few visits to the vet but she healed with no complications and was soon back out in her mew. We still do not know how she managed to injure her third eyelid but we are grateful that Dr. Gaarder is ready for anything we bring him.

For many years the wonderful vets and staff at Croton Animal Hospital have been willing to help us out with injured wildlife found on our property. We are so grateful for their proximity to Teatown and knowledgeable staff  who are always willing to see and treat whatever we bring to them!