G'day all

Today I am the hospital and clinical nurse which has kept me very busy indeed! Everybody in hospital is doing very well, the quails are going today and the young koala is doing very well indeed. She has eaten well and has taken her medication without any fuss.

Once we had all the wombats back in the shearing shed, it was about 2 in the morning and we all went to bed for the night.

Hello everybody.

It seems like every time it is my turn to chat I have just been away. Today is my first day back from holidays, lapping up the sunshine in beautiful northern NSW, and attending the best music festival (well, in my opinion!), Splendour in the Grass. I could spend the whole blog chatting about my holidays, but that's not what you are interested in!

 Today has been a very busy day; we are short staffed today so I am both the hospital and clinical nurse, which has kept me on my toes. After conducting rounds with Lynley, the vet on duty, I started feeding, cleaning and treating all animals in hospital and isolation. Then it was time to move into the surgery and assist Lynley with our scheduled procedures. First on our list was our geriatric male Bilby who needed an anaesthetic to re-check his right eye. A week ago his keepers noticed he was not opening his right eye properly and so they brought him up for a health check. On closer inspection it was noticed that he had a corneal ulcer. Lucky for him, his keepers were able to put drops into his right eye and the ulcer has resolved nicely.

At Adelaide Zoo today, car pooled with one of the nurses as motorbike chain is loose and needs replacing.

My results arrive for memberships and I have passed so I can now put a few extra letters after my name.

Animals to see today were a Woma Python with skin shedding issues and a Malayan Tapir with healing mouth ulcers; later Seabird Rescue brought in a pelican that has tangled with both a power line then barb-wire fence which required some minor surgery.

Weekend off but need to go to Melbourne on Sunday for cheetah collection.

See you all next time it is my turn if I don't forget.

With the exam now out of the way I can begin planning for the Winston Churchill Fellowship (http://www.churchilltrust.com.au) that I had been notified about late last week. These are short-term overseas travelling scholarships awarded to investigate specific projects with my topic on "Open-range zoo veterinary facilities" and visits planned to the USA, UK and South Africa.

G'day all!

It's been a while since we have had a chat. I have only just recently returned from a field trip to Aroona Sanctuary near Leigh Creek where we were monitoring the in-situ Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby population.

Hi everybody my name is Paula Modra and I am one of the Veterinary Nurses at Zoos SA, mainly working at Adelaide Zoo, but occasionally at Monarto. I have been with Zoos SA for over 7 years, and as Dianne said last week, I also love my job to bits and pieces!

Went out to Cleland this morning as Lynley is off this week. Unfortunately we had to euthanase the mallee fowl she was treating for aspergillosis (a fungal infection in the lung).

Hello again from Dave.

Had a busy weekend even though I wasn't working! Saturday I came in to help Lynley anaesthetise our male lion Mujambi. He had a seizure on exhibit on Friday. This the second, possibly third, seizure that he has had, but this time one of the females attacked him while he was fitting and injured his back leg quite badly.

Started Thursday morning off very early to get to Monarto and anaethetise Kabira before it gets too hot. It's very hot up here again today with the temperature at about 38 deg C.

Wednesday has been another very busy day with an anaesthetic on the addax calf at Monarto this morning. It appears she has a bone chip on the lateral aspect of her humerus and some radial nerve damage. We have moved her away to a safe area where she can have some rest and hopefully the nerve will heal with time.