What a vet learned by living at Hope for Wildlife for a year

Dr. Krystal Woo starts her days like a lot of others in the medical field — with a day full of surgeries, X-rays and medication. The difference is that she's treating owls, skunks and raccoons.

A unique program in Nova Scotia is giving veterinarians first-hand experience with some of the province's wildest creatures.

It brings recently graduated veterinarians from across North America to the Hope for Wildlife rehabilitation centre, which is about 45 minutes outside Halifax in Seaforth.

"It's busy," Woo said between X-raying a crow and treating a pigeon's eye infection. "The summer is always our busy season because we have lots of babies."

Those babies include orphaned seal pups, deer fawns with broken legs and even blind foxes.

"You don't have a lot of veterinarians in wildlife medicine, so they need an advocate for their health," Woo said.

Having a vet right at the centre is good news for the hundreds of animals needing care, according to Hope for Wildlife's founder, Hope Swinimer.

That's because before the program, sick creatures had to be sent to various nearby clinics. Some of them didn't make it.

"It's much better for the wildlife and it's easier for us," she said. "Now [when a wild animal arrives], we can get it right in for everything it needs, whether it's X-rays or surgeries.

"Things can happen quickly. Even sadly if it is a euthanasia, it doesn't have to suffer or wait."

Swinimer said fewer animals are dying at the centre thanks to Woo.

Although Woo gets room and board and a small paycheque, it's not easy work.

'The need is so great'

"It's a full-time job now," Swinimer said. "Even Dr. [Woo] sometimes puts in 12 and 14 hours days, six days a week.

"The need is so great, even if the other vets in the area wanted to, they couldn't keep up with demand."

Woo said a lot of veterinary schools don't provide training in wildlife care, so this is a unique opportunity for her.

"There are a lot of wildlife that will be brought to cat and dog veterinarians, and they're not always sure what to do with them because they're not trained, so programs like this will help increase the knowledge about wildlife," Woo said.

'We can help more animals'

The hope is a program like this can be started at other wildlife rehab centres, so that there would be full-time wildlife vets across the country.

After 12 months, Woo is set to head home next month and will be replaced by another vet like her. Dozens of hopeful vets have already applied for the job.

"As we learn more and more about medicine, we can help more animals," Woo said.