On World Vet Day we pay tribute to Auckland Zoo’s incredible vet team

When you think of the occupation ‘vet’ or ‘vet nurse’, your mind might automatically jump to those who dedicate their lives to saving your beloved pets. But who looks after our native New Zealand wildlife - stranded sea turtles or injured little penguins, or exotic species that call Auckland Zoo home and are vital advocates, and often part of insurance populations, for their wild cousins?

Auckland Zoo is a non-for-profit conservation organisation with an on-site Vet Hospital, which also incorporates the New Zealand Centre for Conservation medicine (NZCCM) – the world-leading research and training arm of our hospital.

Funded by Auckland Zoo ticket sales and the Auckland Zoo Charitable Trust, the NZCCM was one of the world’s first nationally-dedicated conservation centres when it opened in 2007. The Vet Hospital is constantly busy with a variety of patients from native wildlife, to the zoo’s exotic species. Most days in the Vet Hospital you can catch our vets in action, or our NZCCM scientists working in the lab through our windowed operating rooms viewable from the building’s public gallery.

Working with wild animals which often hide their symptoms, our vets and vet nurses have an incredibly challenging job on their hands. How do they decide what is normal? What should an elephant’s heart rate be? How do they know when a tiger has a sore tooth, or if a kiwi catches a cold?  There is no simple handbook of veterinary care for all these amazing species.  The vet team use evidence-based medicine, advanced medical techniques, and scientific research to ensure they provide the best health care possible for all their patients.  

Our vet team are passionate about inspiring others and protecting the welfare of animals, people and the environment, and love caring for their challenging and varied animal patients. These patients currently include: an emaciated wild penguin struggling to become waterproof; a mallee parakeet with a fractured leg requiring a splint smaller than your fingernail; a morepork that has arrived from another zoo and is undergoing routine quarantine health checks; a limping meerkat; and a rhino with a sore jaw. In addition to their work at the Vet Hospital, our vets and vet nurses also get to directly contribute to saving New Zealand species, each getting the opportunity to work in the wild and partake in conservation projects, assisting with things like performing health checks on takahē, or providing veterinary care for kākāpō chicks. 

If you are interested in the amazing work our Auckland Zoo vets undertake, come along to Auckland Zoo and visit the Vet Hospital. You might get to see one of our patients getting a health check, and best of all, your ticket is contributing to the important work our vet team is undertaking, both with our exotic species and our unique New Zealand wildlife.