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No. I take all the photographs with my personal camera, I pay for my own processing and I use my personal scanner to digitize the images and my own video capture card to digitize the video. I place the digitized images on my government webpages for the use and enjoyment of the public and of my colleagues. The government website is in the public domain, so you can download the images, but I would appreciate acknowledgement of their source.

No. I am a one-person shop and I have not been given budget or FTE's for an assistant.

Yes, but NOT THROUGH ME. Summer technicians are hired each year by our center. Whether you are hired depends on your qualifications and what our center needs in the way of temporary summer help. The application process is an example of government not at its most efficient, and the dust hasn't settled yet for 1999. Usually applications are due in DECEMBER. I'll try to post something more when I know more. PLEASE DON'T CALL OR EMAIL ME ABOUT THIS. Call US Geological Survey's headquarters in Reston Virginia and ask to speak to the personnel office. They will probably know information long before we will. Also, consider contacting the US Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. about summer jobs.

Probably not. We do use contract veterinarians occasionally (when I have a time conflict), but they are mostly local people who have some flexibility (clinic owners or part-timers). Since most of our contracts are for comparatively short periods of time (we pay $300/day) it is to our advantage to use local contractors to avoid doubling our costs by having to pay for transportation from the Lower 48 and per diem costs. Also, once a person has experience with a given technique, we, of course, want to keep using them. For example, the veterinarian who does virtually all of the transmitter implants in sea otters has done about 500 implants, and the biologists are reluctant to switch (even I don't get to do any sea otter surgeries). When I reach outside Alaska for veterinarians it is usually because they have specific skills that we need. Also, I can usually get vet school people to volunteer on our projects, which also helps provide professional stimulation to me, way up here. Also, they often show up laden with specialized equipment and supplies for use on our projects! Because of our continual budget cuts, and the rapidly ebbing oil spill funds, I anticipate using fewer contractors is the future. Fewer projects mean that I will have fewer time conflicts for which we need to bring on a contractor. Also, our sister agency in our building hired a veterinarian last year (as a biologist), but I anticipate that we will begin to use her on some projects.

Well, maybe (see previous question). If you have a specialty that pertains to one of our projects, and if we have a problem on that project, then we might be able to work something out. We probably can't pay you, but we can probably pay your transportation costs and per diem. If you have a unique technique that pertains to one of our projects or if you can supply unique equipment or supplies, that that enhances the odds of cooperation developing. Presently, I am working with a couple of anesthesiologists on walrus immobilization, an avian veterinarian on surgery problems on birds, and a pathologist on....dead stuff.

No. The nature of the way my work gets scheduled precludes arranging for externships far in the future. If I scheduled a time for a vet student to come to Alaska next year, based on the information I have now, I can practically guarantee that the schedule will have changed by the time the vet student gets here. Also, the vagaries of transportation scheduling and weather (many of our projects are done in remote locations and are reached by boat or plane) means that I can't guarantee that a student will be able to return to school on time. Most schools are very intolerant of a student arriving late for the next rotation. Finally, space is usually quite limited in field camps, on boats, and in airplanes.

The best answer for this can be found on my WebPages. I try to paste up pictures and some text after each bit of fieldwork. In short, I mostly support wildlife researchers in projects when they need veterinary skills. Mostly this involves surgical implantation of satellite and conventional VHF transmitters. I do some necropsies (mostly sea otters and the very occasional polar bear) and I advise on chemical immobilization of various species. Additional duties include being the Center's Controlled Substances Officer, which involves ordering, receiving, storing, issuing and accounting for the narcotics and other drugs that we use for immobilization of wildlife. I try to wedge some research in here and there, mostly by adding onto established projects and also reporting on things that I notice (like the fact that harlequin ducks that we had implanted with VHF transmitters managed to pull their transmitters out through their body walls. We traced this to a fault in the physical design of the transmitter body and improper reinforcement of the base of the antenna).

Sure. You will have to meet the same requirements as the applicants who were pre-vet majors. You can get the requirements from the vet school your interested in. You are probably lacking in some of the fundamental requirements, so you need to think about whether or not you want to spend more time in school getting those classes. Look at the website for the various vet schools to learn their individual prerequisites, and also, most of them post the statistics (GPAs, GRE scores, etc.) for recent applicants (http://www.avma.org/netvet/vet.htm under "Education"). The most important question you need to ask yourself before applying to vet school is this: "Do I want to become a veterinarian?". Remember, you will barely see anything but dogs, cats, cows, horses, and an occasional bird, ferret, bunny, sheep and goat, for the four years of vet school. Your dedication to wildlife will be what carries you through vet school. I found vet school to be both horrible and fascinating. I'm glad I did it, but I would never do it again. You might even discover that traditional veterinary practice has appeal as a career as you go through vet school.

I get asked these questions a lot. There are many routes to a goal, so don't think that my career route is any kind of a blueprint.

I was a Zoology major as an undergrad, with a strong emphasis in ichthyology. I had nearly a double major in microbiology and a minor in chemistry. I got drafted (this was during the Vietnam War) right after graduation and spent my Army time as a laboratory technician in a dental microbiology research laboratory at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.. There I was surrounded by some real idiots who had advanced degrees and there I became convinced that an idiot like me could probably get one, too. My service time also taught me a lot about the right and wrong ways to do research. I wanted to study diseases of fish and (after changing graduate schools once), I got a Ph.D. in Microbiology with a dissertation on a major viral disease of salmonid fishes. I was in the right place when a long-term employee of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, doing fish virus research, quit and I was hired right out of graduate school, even before my dissertation writing was completed. I worked for ten years at a fish disease research center in Seattle on viral diseases of fish and then transferred to the USFWS wildlife disease center in Madison to head up its new research branch. That didn't work out, so I quit and started vet school in Madison at the age of 41. The summer before vet school started I went to Alaska and participated as a volunteer on a couple of research projects on walruses and sea otters. They invited me back the following summer (as a paid employee) to continue to work on walruses. However, that spring the Exxon Valdez ran into Bligh Reef and a lot of lives changed, including mine. I was diverted onto sea otter oil spill studies, mostly organizing the necropsy effort (800 carcasses!) and analyzing hydrocarbon residue data. I worked during summers and holidays and, upon graduation, I moved to Alaska and worked as an independent contractor, supporting various oil spill studies. I branched out into other studies and became "the expert" on doing field surgeries on birds to implant transmitters. Another veterinarian had the sea otter fieldwork sewed up so it was a good decision to emphasize birds. I became a part-time employee of USFWS, and eventually returned to full-time employment with them. So, here I am (now in USGS, due to reorganization mandated by Congress).

There are no "wildlife veterinarian schools" and, as I mentioned above, there is very little exposure to wildlife in veterinary medical school. However, before you can be a wildlife veterinarian, you must be a veterinarian, so vet school is required. There is a growing sophistication in the zoo and wildlife veterinary field towards formal residencies after vet school. I think it is a good idea, as it helps to distinguish you from other applicants for the few positions available, and its a great way to gain a lot of experience in a short period of time, and the best way to prepare for the board certification examination in the American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM). It is also a good way to simultaneously gain a Master's or a Ph.D. degree at the same time. The first free-ranging wildlife veterinary medicine residency was established at the vet school at North Carolina State University; another is near approval at the vet school at Kansas State, and others are under development. I did the alternative route (experience, publications, examination) to get board certification in ACZM. In fact, I am only the second veterinarian to pass the ACZM wildlife veterinary medicine specialty examination.

Many veterinarians want to work on wildlife so you need some type of distinguishing qualifications to stand out from the masses. A Master's and/or Ph.D. are very good, and board certification eventually will be a terrific advantage (it already is for zoo veterinarian jobs). Experience (like you are getting through volunteering) is also good. Unfortunately, luck also plays a role: you need to be there and be qualified when one of the few openings comes available. Some veterinarians in practice indulge their desire to work on wildlife by participating with local rehabilitation groups. Most rehab groups rely on volunteer veterinarians, and its a great way to gain hands-on experience (its how I learned about birds). The most important thing about becoming a wildlife veterinarian is to focus on the goal, never give up, and be prepared to do what is necessary to become qualified.

Not really. Most state and federal agencies don't want to expend scarce budget dollars on rehabilitation, mostly because of a feeling that rehab has no effect at the population level (which is mostly true). Animals brought into agencies for rehabilitation are quickly transferred to private rehab groups. Here, we ship "orphaned" sea otter and walrus pups to private and public aquariums as quickly as possible. There are some exceptions to what I have just said. For example, black-footed ferrets, timber and red wolves, and whooping cranes that are injured might be rehabbed at state or federal facilities, but these are truly exceptions. You may hear a lot of news coverage about the times when wildlife (especially the cute, fuzzy kinds, like sea otter pups) are rehabbed by agencies, but that is media hype and I can promise you that there is NO official enthusiasm behind those efforts. If you want to do rehab, I can virtually promise you that you will not do it as a state or federal employee. There is just no support for that activity.

"Do you know of any funding I might find to fund my graduate school research?"

No. I am a one-person shop here, and I have chosen not to involve undergraduates or even 4th year veterinary students in my projects for a long list of reasons. I do involve other veterinarians when I have time conflicts or when they have specific skills that we need on our projects. I have a growing involvement with the avian and wildlife veterinarians at the vet school at North Carolina State, but that involves only the professors themselves or the free-ranging wildlife resident that I previously mentioned.

IN MY OPINION (hereafter referred to as: IMO), getting a Ph.D. in wildlife management will not help you if you want to be either a wildlife veterinarian or a wildlife rehabber. Only do it if you want to be a wildlife researcher.

IMO, there is a surplus of Ph.D. wildlifers and you would be better served by pursuing a doctorate in a hard science, like genetics, physiology, molecular biology, biometry, etc., and then try to bring that education to bear on the wildlife field. Then, if you don't get a job in wildlife, you at least have a usable profession in which to find work. Not infrequently, we get applications from doctorate level wildlife biologists who desperately want to get hired as low-level technicians, just so they can get into the system. None get hired (we know that they will start applying for other positions after only one year). I have noticed a trend for wildlife agencies to look more favorably on establishing "non-wildlife" specialty positions in their programs. In recent years, our center has hired two biometrists, a physiologist and a geneticist (as well as a veterinarian). Wildlife biologists all seem to be trained much alike, and the non-wildlife specialties offer stronger skills in arenas that are becoming essential in a progressive wildlife agency.

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