What can you discover when you look beneath the surface?
On 27th August, the Animal Care Team at CZS, had the opportunity to do exactly that, when Burgess Diagnostics brought their specialist mobile CT scanner to the Zoo. Several of the Zoo’s animals underwent CT scans to take a closer look at the health of some of the animals in our care. Ensuring the comfort and safety of our animals is our top priority and bringing the mobile CT unit directly to Colchester allowed us to achieve that goal.
A total of ten patients were scanned during the visit, including two aardvarks, a red panda and a sloth. The scans formed part of the teams ongoing care for the animals with certain health concerns, providing an opportunity to gather further information about their health that other diagnostics have not been able to. Scanning ten different patients across a range of species also meant that the team had to adapt their approach to each individual animal and having two vets from the International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG) working in tandem helped make this possible.
CT scanning allows vets to see highly detailed cross-sectional images of the body, providing information that cannot always be gained through routine veterinary examination. For animals, being able to identify what is happening beneath the surface can be particularly important.
Unlike human patients, animals are unable to communicate if something is wrong or if they are unwell. They are also adept at masking health concerns so the Animal Care team must solely rely on daily observations, body scoring, veterinary checks and advanced diagnostics to build a clearer picture.
Burgess Diagnostics’ visit also offered an insight into the specialist work that takes place behind the scenes at CZS. While visitors see the animals going about their daily lives, a dedicated Animal Care team and veterinary professionals are constantly monitoring their health and wellbeing.
“The CT scanning day was a huge success and very important for all the animals seen. It allows us to ensure the highest level of welfare is maintained and that our course of treatment for those animals is correct. It also allowed our team to experience the mobile imaging service to facilitate further visits in the future” – Angela Matthews, Head Keeper
The visit from Burgess Diagnostics forms part of Colchester Zoological Society’s commitment to providing high standards of care, combining expert knowledge with modern technology to support the health and welfare of the animals in our care and contributing to wider species conservation programmes.
