The University of Saskatchewan's Veterinary Medical Centre (VMC) will continue to intake wildlife and provide regular clinical services after a scheduled three-week pause, but the services will remain under review. The pause was initially due to a lack of specialized coverage and limited resources to maintain its 24-hour small animal emergency service.
A bat is handled by a caretaker at Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation. A statement released Friday by the University of Saskatchewan said the Veterinary Medical Centre will continue to intake wildlife and provide regular clinical services after Aug. 18.
The Western Veterinary College of Medicine has announced that wildlife services will continue after a scheduled three week pause, but will remain under review. A statement released Friday by the University of Saskatchewan said the Veterinary Medical Centre will continue to intake wildlife and provide regular clinical services after Aug. 18.
The university announced earlier this month that they would temporarily halt services at the VMC from July 22 to Aug. 18 due to a lack of specialized coverage.
“As well, the hospital has limited resources to concurrently maintain its 24-hour small animal emergency service that serves western Canada and referring veterinary clinics,” said the university. Originally, zoo and exotics services were slated to return after the pause, with wildlife services put on an indefinite hold while the university reviews the service. They also confirmed that the service pause and review have no direct links to each other.
“In order to continue providing an environment of high-quality care that ensures both the quality of training experience and the sustainability of the working environment, the VMC has been carefully reviewing each of its clinical services over the past year,” said the university. Rory Langelier, an upper-year veterinary student, said she’s excited and grateful that the VMC and WVCM seems to be listening.
“I actually started crying because I know how much this means for so many people, like Living Sky WildLife Rehabilitation,” Gemin said. “While it’s good news and what we wanted to hear, we still have to keep fighting for wildlife to ensure that the wildlife service exists for many years to come,” said Langelier. Students and wildlife rehabilitators had been worried about how an indefinite closure would impact provincial wildlife, especially avian wildlife, and student learning.
While the university clarified the temporary pause won’t affect veterinary students’ clinical rotations or the the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine curriculum, if the review results in a permanent closure, Gemin and Langelier still feel their education would be compromised. Members of the Wild and Exotic Animal Medicine Society , plan to be active in the service review, said Langelier and Gemin, who both have roles as executive leadership.
Students exist as part of the stakeholders group that the university consults with, and the WEAMS club will put together a platform to present to the university.
“ definitely going to be keeping the public in the loop about what’s going on wherever we can, and making sure that everyone gets a voice in the final decision,” said Langelier. The students have three and a half months before the final decision will be cemented, but they plan to continue the fight for wildlife services until then.
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