How to Examine a Peccary

March 11, 2021

How should you go about examining a potentially dangerous animal? If you are a Zoo Veterinarian or Veterinary Technician, this is a question you ask yourself nearly every day. 

Several weeks ago zookeepers noted that Happy Hollow’s elderly collared peccary, Eloise, was losing weight without any obvious explanation. Eloise is 15 years old, and the normal life expectancy for her species in the wild is about 10 years.  

It was determined that this necessitated a vet exam, but with an animal like a peccary this simple procedure comes with extra challenges. Peccaries have a good sense of smell and hearing, but poor eyesight, which could result in Eloise being startled by a person being in close proximity to her.  

While Eloise has a generally docile demeanor and is often interested in, as opposed to fearful of, humans, she also has very large teeth, a stout body and a large skull that could knock a person over and injure them if she was to run into them while startled. For Eloise’s safety and that of her keepers, Happy Hollow uses a system called protected contact, where there is always a barrier between the animal and the human, as long as the animal is awake. This procedure is used with all potentially dangerous animals at Happy Hollow, including the jaguars, giant anteaters and fossa. 

One of Happy Hollow’s regular consulting veterinarians, Dr. Abrahams, was brought in to complete Eloise’s examination with the help of Happy Hollow’s own veterinary technician, Rachel Atkins. Here is an up-close peek at the process of examining an animal like Eloise. 

 

 

 

 

 

Eloise was carefully anesthetized at her exhibit. Under ideal conditions the exam would be performed in her exhibit, but a particularly windy day necessitated relocating the exam to Doc’s Critter Care for the safety of all involved. This yellow carry tarp allows Eloise to be gently and safely moved. She was transported up to Doc’s Critter Care in the back of the Happy Hollow van. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Abrahams inspects Eloise’s teeth 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Abrahams performs a physical exam of Eloise the collard peccary with assistance from Happy Hollow Vet Tech Rachel. They also performed an abdominal ultrasound, chest and abdominal X-rays, and took blood samples. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel takes a blood sample from Eloise to send to the laboratory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Abrahams and Rachel take X-rays of Eloise’s chest and abdomen. Dr. Abrahams is holding a portable X-ray machine which creates a radiograph image that is displayed immediately on a tablet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Abrahams listens to Eloise’s heart after completing X-rays. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the examination was complete, Eloise was carefully moved to her crate and transported back to her exhibit in the Zoo in the Hollow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Abrahams, Rachel, and Zookeeper John carefully load Eloise into her crate for safe travel back to her exhibit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many zookeepers does it take to lift a heavy metal crate with a peccary in it? In this case, five zookeepers carefully moved Eloise and her crate back into her exhibit, where she was monitored and allowed to rest safely while the anesthesia wore off. 

Vet Tech Rachel reports that the results of Eloise’s blood work look good and she appears to be doing well overall for her age. Dr. Abrahams did observe some worn down teeth during the physical exam, but Eloise’s keepers have not reported that she has any difficulty eating. Rachel explained that “sometimes it is hard for older animals to maintain muscle mass due to a variety of factors, so giving them foods that are easy to chew and digest can help.  

Going forward, we’ve changed how we present Eloise’s diet to her and have added a supplement to help her gain and maintain her weight. She is weighed regularly by the keepers, which is how we noticed the issue in the first place, so that is a great indicator of health for our animals.” In Eloise’s case, her regular weight checks consist of her voluntarily stepping onto a scale in return for a food reward. This allows for a much more accurate measurement than if she needed to be restrained, and makes the process nearly stress-free for Eloise and her care team. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenging situations like this are not unusual at a facility like Happy Hollow where a large portion of our animals are near or even above their normal life expectancy. “Happy Hollow is committed to providing a lifelong home for all of our animals, and to providing them with the best care possible for the entirety of their lives,” says Zoo Director Kevin Hertell. “This means that we are always planning for how to address age-related health issues, like what we saw with Eloise, and strategizing ways to do it with the least amount of stress and risk for the animal and the zoo staff.”  

Animals receiving excellent care at facilities like Happy Hollow can live to double their life expectancy in the wild, so we are  happy to have so many elderly animals still thriving late in life!