It’s not a program we want to drop,” said Dale Bjorling, professor and chairman of the school’s department of surgical sciences. “When we think about our mission here – we’re a school, but we provide a service here to the people of Wisconsin.”
During fiscal year 2010, the UW veterinary school, which offers both residency and clinical programs, logged 790 patient visits by exotic species.
Eighty students are admitted each year for the four-year program at the veterinary school, and a rotation with exotic species is a popular elective for those who plan to work in small animal practices that treat rabbits, cockatoos, iguanas and ferrets in addition to German shepherds and calico kittens. The students might even see wombats, Tasmanian devils, sugar gliders, tamarins and chinchillas. Or possibly tigers, elephants and orangutans, since the exotic species rotation is also sought after by students who want to work at zoos or wildlife programs.