Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Chad Klassen

B.C. WILDLIFE PARK

Wildlife park hoping for new X-ray machine to save time, money when assessing animals

May 16, 2019 | 10:21 AM

KAMLOOPS — The B.C. Wildlife Park relies on donations.

Without the generosity of the public and local philanthropists like Ron and Rae Fawcett, it simply wouldn’t exist.

The park has many wants and needs, but at the top of its list is an X-ray machine, which staff at the animal health centre say would save the park time and money, giving the animals a better chance for full rehabilitation.

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: British Columbia, it's time for us to step up

39m ago

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

Latest program growth at Kamloops Y focused on mental wellbeing

19h ago

Question of the Week

Kamloops now has a direct flight to Edmonton. It should also have a direct flight to...

22h ago

Gallagher the bobcat has had four X-rays during her two-month stay at the B.C. Wildlife Park, both in Kamloops and at the coast.

The travel for Gallagher, who was hit by a car near Penticton in March, has been stressful for her and the wildlife park team.

“In her case, the stress of having to move an animal from here, we have to sedate her here, get her into a kennel, take her to the vet clinic, and then bundle her back up and come back,” said the wildlife park’s animal care manager Tracy Reynolds. “So it’s quite a long process getting the X-Rays done off site.”

The Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre does have an X-ray room. The park just hasn’t been able to afford a machine.

“The one we would like to get is a portable machine,” said Dr. Ellen Denstedt, the park’s veterinarian. “That way, we can use it both in-house for our rehab animals and take it out into the field and it transmits the images to a computer. It’s a really nice machine and it is a used machine. But it runs closer to $40,000.”

With multiple animals coming into the health centre on any one day, park staff say it would be well used. It would also allow staff to diagnose the animals more quickly and accurately.

“A lot of the time we are just examining the animal and essentially guessing at how bad the break is and exactly where the location is, based on feel, because we simply can’t afford to go out and X-ray every single animal,” noted Dr. Denstedt.

The wildlife park’s discount rate at local veterinarians like the Oriole Road Animal Hospital is about $60 with 30-60 animals X-rayed every year.

The park is hoping one day X-rays can be done right on site for animals like Gallagher.

“Definitely over the course of a year, we would save thousands of dollars probably in fees just from X-rays and transporting animals, having to sedate animals, and the staff time alone,” said Reynolds.

Anyone interested in helping the park purchase an X-ray machine can visit www.bcwildlife.org and click on How To Help.