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February 2009

CAMPUS

The AVC gives a hoot

Atlantic Veterinary College is currently nursing a snowy owl, which includes physiotherapy and feeding mice

By Jarrod Yeo Panther Post

The ghostly white plumage of the snowy owl resonates its Arctic origins. Native to the northern reaches of the Canadian tundra, it is a rare visitor to Prince Edward Is- land.

So it came as both a sur- prise and a unique learning opportunity for the students and staff at the Atlantic Vet- erinary College when an in- jured snowy owl was turned into their care with a broken wing last November.

Now the owl, which the stu- dents have named Hedwig, after the snowy owl from the Harry Potter series, is a ce- lebrity of sorts, said clinician Hans Gelens.

“It’s a beautiful bird and it’s

a wild one, which is a bit dif- ferent than seeing cats and dogs everyday.”

While the cause of her in- jury is unknown, what is known is that Hedwig is very lucky.

When discovered in the brush by a Souris West resi- dent, she was being sized-up by a red fox looking for an easy meal. Acting quickly, the resident trapped Hedwig under a jacket and brought her into the AVC for treat- ment.

Since then, she has under- gone a successful surgery to repair her broken carpus, which is roughly the equiva- lent to a human wrist bone. Now, she undergoes daily rehabilitation.

That’s where Amanda Fish- er comes in. The fourth-year student is Hedwig’s chief

caretaker and performs tasks she never envisioned herself doing when she decided to become a vet.

“I come in early before most other people to defrost her mice.”

Convincing an owl to eat

euthanized lab mice isn’t as simple as it sounds, she said. Initially, it included dismem- bering and dangling mice parts in front of the nervous bird’s beak until it finally re- alizes it is food.

“After that, I hide a few of the mice around the fly pen so that she has to go looking for them. Yesterday she ate six of them.”

Later on in the day, Fisher must capture Hedwig while wearing thick leather gloves to stretch out the healing wing, a form of avian phys- iotherapy. The gloves are

Hedwig, the snowy owl, has been given refuge at the

AVC. Yeo photo

needed to protect her hands from the bird’s powerful tal- ons.

All this is done in the hope Hedwig will soon be strong enough to be re-released back into the wild.

So why did she turn up here in the first place? Island- ers have reported seeing 10 times as many snowy owls across the province this win- ter. Their spread throughout the Maritimes might be the result a crash of the lemming population, Geland said.

PANTHER POST

“It appears to be food driv- en, the owls are here looking for smaller species like mice and other rodents.”

The increased _ sightings raised alarms for some users on the CBC forum which ran the story on Jan. 13, citing climate change as the reason for the increase. At this time, Fisher says it’s only specula- tion.

“Tt’s not unusual for the owls to travel far south sometimes. Sometimes there’s many. Sometime there’s none.”

Breast Cancer Study is Seeking Participants

A research team is looking for participants for a study that will examine the rehabilitation of young women under the age of 50 after breast cancer

treatment.

Are you under the age of 50 and currently 12-24 months past your breast cancer diagnosis?

view.

For more information please contact:

Julie Easley or Naomi Tschirhart )

Dalhousie University Family Medicine Teaching Unit

Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital

Fredricton, NB

New Phone Number: 1-866-323-1833 (toll free) | Email: julie.easley@rvh.nb.ca or naomi.tschirhart@rvh.nb.ca