doi:10.1053/j.saep.2005.09.008

Literature

Literature
Review

Topics in Wildlife
Medicine: Clinical
Pathology, Volume 1
Edited by
Florina S. Tseng and
Mark A. Mitchell
Publisher—National
Wildlife Rehabilitators
Association, 2005.

his 87-page volume repre-
sents a new and innovative
effort from the National

Wildlife

Rehabilitators

Associa-

tion: the periodic publication of a
journal aimed at improving the in-
formation available to veterinari-
ans involved in the medicine and
rehabilitation of native wildlife.

Chapters include:

●

Introduction to diagnostic test-
ing for wildlife— how do I in-
terpret the results?

●

Comparative hematology

●

Interpreting biochemical tests

●

Cytological

sample

analysis

and interpretation

●

Parasite sample collection and
interpretation

●

Bacterial testing and interpre-
tation in wildlife

●

Viral testing and interpretation

The last 25 years have seen a

dramatic expansion in the quality

and diversity of literature available
to assist rehabilitators and improve
their efforts to help animals. But
for veterinarians working with na-
tive wildlife, there is a paucity of
resource material. In recent years,
there has been a flood of books
and journals focused on the health
care of zoo animals, exotic pets,
and wildlife populations. How-
ever, few resources have been pub-
lished specifically designed to im-
prove the skills of veterinarians
treating native wildlife.

I am impressed with the exper-

tise of the authors of this first vol-
ume. Many of them are leaders in
the field of wildlife rehabilitation
medicine. In addition to their vet-
erinary training, each of these au-
thors has many years of hands-on
experience with a wide variety of
species (by my rough count, the 6
authors represent well over a cen-
tury of rehab experience!).

None of the material in this vol-

ume represents genuinely new sci-
ence, nor is this dry academic mi-
nutiae that one rarely applies in
real life. It does, however, repre-
sent a unique distillation and com-
pilation. Before this volume, prac-
titioners seeking a basic “how to”
or “what does it mean” informa-
tion about wildlife diagnostics
were often frustrated by having to
search a bewildering array of re-
sources of widely varying quality.
Now the authors and editors of
this volume have done much of
the work for us. They have filtered
a huge body of literature to pull

together a text of useful and prac-
tical information. Perhaps best of
all is that this information has
been tempered and tested by their
many years of experience. Starting
with Dr. Mark Mitchell’s introduc-
tory chapter, each author shares
their experiences of what they
have really found to work in a re-
habilitation setting.

Standard and not so standard

techniques are presented in a
straightforward manner. I particu-
larly found the tables on evaluat-
ing serum biochemistry constitu-
ents (pp 20-26, 31-42) to be a
uniquely comparative and helpful
tool that I will often use.

On pages 27 to 30 is a nice se-

ries of color plates that comple-
ments several of the chapters. I
think that the choice of pictures is
adequate, but I would request that
in future editions the publishers
consider printing the photos in a
glossier or higher resolution man-
ner to increase their quality.

Who is this volume for? Primar-

ily, it is aimed at veterinary clini-
cians, but the veterinary techni-
cian, advanced rehabilitator, and
field biologist will all find helpful
information as well.

What will this volume do? It will

allow the veterinarian to better un-
derstand, utilize, and interpret the
growing array of diagnostic clini-
cal tests available to us. It also
highlights some of the key refer-
ences and resources available to
practitioners.

Seminars in Avian and Exotic Pet Medicine, Vol 14, No 4 (October), 2005: pp 291–295

291

What will it NOT do? It will not

make most of us into bench scien-
tists or instant experts. You may not
be able to do a PCR or know about
Baerman tests, but you will certainly
learn a great deal about what these
tests can tell you and when they are
(and aren’t) worth the time and
money.

Depending on your interests, ex-

pertise, and experience, many veter-

inarians using this volume will find
that they may already know much of
what’s presented in one or more
chapters. But I am certain that no
matter your level of experience, you
will find gems of information and
new ideas in this journal. I congrat-
ulate the National Wildlife Rehabili-
tators Association and the authors
on this effort and look forward to
seeing what comes next.

MARK POKRAS, DVM

Wildlife Clinic

Tufts Cummings School of

Veterinary Medicine

North Grafton, MA

Abstracts

Bertelsen MF, Mosley C, Craw-
shaw GJ, et al: Inhalation anes-
thesia in Dumeril’s monitor
(Varanus dumerili) with isoflu-
rane, sevoflurane, and nitrous
oxide: effects of inspired gases
on induction and recovery.
J Zoo Wild Med 36(1):62-
68, 2005

Induction and recovery times of
Dumeril’s monitors from inhala-
tion anesthesia using isoflurane,
sevoflurane, and nitrous oxide
were studied. The study was per-
formed on 10 captive-bred moni-
tors, and each animal received
each of 4 treatments once in a ran-
domized order, with at least 7 days
between treatments. The treat-
ments were isoflurane in 100% O

sevoflurane in 100% O

, sevoflu-

rane in room air, and sevoflurane
in 66% N

:34% O

. The flow rate

was 1 L/min, and the vaporizers
were dialed to maximum (5% for
isoflurane and 8% for sevoflu-
rane).

Mask

induction

with

sevoflurane was significantly faster
than with isoflurane. There was no
significant difference between the
induction time for sevoflurane in
O

or in room air, but sevoflurane

combined with N

O resulted in

significantly faster inductions than
were obtained with sevoflurane in
100% O

. All protocols involving

handling resulted in markedly ele-

vated respiratory rates compared
with undisturbed animals. The
number of breaths was signifi-
cantly higher during induction
with isoflurane than with sevoflu-
rane. The sequence in which com-
plete muscle relaxation occurred
was consistent: the front limbs lost
tone first, followed by the neck
and hind limbs. The righting re-
flex was then lost and finally tail
tone. Recovery time after anesthe-
sia was not affected by the percent-
age of inhaled O

Gibbs JP, Steen DA: Trends in
sex ratios of turtles in the
United States: implications of
road mortality. Conservation
Biol 19(2):552-556, 2005

Road mortality has been impli-
cated as a significant demographic
force in turtles, particularly for fe-
male turtles, which are killed dis-
proportionately on overland nest-
ing movements. The authors syn-
thesized published estimates of
population-level sex ratios in fresh-
water and terrestrial turtles in the
United States (165 estimates for 36
species). From this analysis, the
proportion of male turtles in pop-
ulations has increased linearly
(P

⫽ 0.001), and this trend is syn-

chronized with the expansion of
surfaced roads. In addition, sex ra-
tios became more male biased in

states with higher densities of
roads, and in aquatic species, in
which movement differentials be-
tween male and female turtles are
greatest. They are least biased in
semiaquatic and terrestrial spe-
cies, in which overland movements
are more comparable between
sexes. These findings may have sig-
nificant implications, because it
has been found that slight in-
creases in turtle adult mortality
can lead to large declines in pop-
ulations.

Harrenstein LA, Tornquist SJ,
Miller-Morgan TJ, et al: Evalu-
ation of a point-of-care blood
analyzer and determination of
reference ranges for blood pa-
rameters in rockfish. J Am
Vet Med Assoc 226(2):255-
265, 2005

Captive

adult

black

rockfish

(Sebastes melanops) and adult blue
rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) were
anesthetized with tricaine meth-
anesulfonate

for

collection

blood samples. Heparinized blood
samples were immediately ana-
lyzed with a point-of-care analyzer
(i-STAT portable clinical analyzer;
Heska Corp, Fort Collins, CO).
Blood sodium, potassium, chlo-
ride, urea nitrogen, and glucose
concentrations were determined.
In addition, hematocrit, pH, par-

292

Abstracts