2023-08-07 15:01:25
>LA NACION>LifestyleAugust 7, 202310:01
Those who study veterinary medicine do not learn how to operate on a toucan or vaccinate a shark. Even less, to cure an intoxicated condor or to rescue a deer with bullet wounds from a forest.
All these challenges, and many others too, Rodrigo Sartori (35) had to face them as they presented themselves. “You have to look for it: you read papers, watch videos, ask for advice… We are very used to finding ourselves in situations that we have never had before,” says the veterinarian at the Temaikén biopark. This job is the most beautiful thing there is. It also implies a great responsibility, because many times you have to care for animals that are highly threatened.”
Originally from Tandil, Sartori began working in Temaikén in 2017. Since he was a child, being a veterinarian had always been his first option, but the idea of working in a zoo was unthinkable. “I started working in a veterinary clinic and in a zoonosis center doing surgeries. And then I had the spectacular opportunity to do an internship here. I was crazy about the place: I really liked the work and I was surprised by the commitment that there was with all the animals. When I arrived there was a Creole duck that had a problem with one of its legs and received therapy and physiotherapy every day. I loved that, ”he recalls.
Two of the condors that are recovered at the Temaikén Species Recovery Center (CRET), to later return to their habitat. Alejandro Guyot – LA NACION
After completing the internship, Sartori became part of the foundation’s stable staff of veterinarians. “Here you do all the veterinary specialties: radiology, ultrasound, surgery, traumatology. It’s a huge challenge, but I love it. In addition, you have access to very diverse species. Every day I get up and come to work happy, ”he adds.
Sartori works for the two properties that the Temaikén Foundation has in Escobar: the zoo and the Species Recovery Center (CRET), where injured wild animals (such as condors, pumas, macaws and swamp deer) are referred to be treated and then returned to their natural habitats.
During a tour of the biopark, he remembers the day a puma arrived that had been seized by the provincial authorities from a house, where the animal’s claws had been removed. His capture was followed by months of magnetotherapy and laser treatments within the CRET. Also the day an American snake arrived that a tourist had tried to smuggle through the Mar del Plata airport, inside a bottle of fabric softener.
The Temaikén Foundation has a permanent staff of four veterinarians, in addition to several interns from different parts of the country. Alejandro Guyot – LA NACION
“They saw her through the scanner. She arrived here in terrible condition, with a terrible smell of fabric softener, ”she says. Today, years after her arrival, the snake is still there, in one of the hospital’s reptile rooms, inside a glass fish tank decorated with earth and branches.
“We have the animal here and we take care of it until the corresponding authorities decide what to do. Since it is not native to our country, we cannot release it here because we can cause an imbalance ”, he explains, looking for it among the branches of its small new habitat.
A monkey that was rescued before being sold illegally recovers at the medical center, after arriving in poor health. Courtesy: Temaikén
According to Sartori, the animals that all visitors can see on the zoo grounds cannot be released because they were bought from other zoos and most were born in captivity. “They were born under human care, they are animals that are imprinted with people,” he says.
But what the vets team does do is allow some species to breed so that their young can be released. “Every year, the offspring of the condor pair we have are released,” he adds. This work is done in conjunction with the Cóndor Andino Foundation.
One of the newborn carbonaria tortoises that are raised inside the Temaikén hospital. Alejandro Guyot – LA NACION
Sartori treated a condor this year whose case gained special relevance in the media. A tourist photographed him when he landed in his kayak, in the middle of Lake Traful, Neuquén province. The animal – later it was learned that it was poisoned with lead – managed to take flight. After his rescue, the National Parks section took him by plane to the CRET, today the main referral center for condors.
“Lead poisoning is quite common in condors. It is a scavenger bird, it feeds on dead animals. And since dead animals were often shot by hunters, the condor eats the lead from the projectile and becomes intoxicated. The detoxification process was complicated, ”he recalls.
The rescue of a lead-intoxicated condor in Lake Traful, Neuquén. Courtesy of Nahuel Huapi National Park
“The beauty of this job is that you never have a routine: you come every day and you have new challenges. You have days that you are working outside all the time, with the animals at the rescue center, and another day that you do not leave the hospital. The last time we went looking for a marsh deer we did it in the delta at 7:00 p.m. It got dark and it started to rain, and we stayed working in the rain, illuminated by the lights of the truck, ”he recalls.
In addition to healing them, the main challenge veterinarians face when treating animals that will be returned to their habitat is trying not to interact too much. “We have to prevent them from imprinting with us, from recognizing us as their own species, because later it is very difficult to reverse it. For a wild animal to survive in the wild, it has to run away from people,” he explains.
The operating room Through his stretcher, which she was specially ordered to make, they pass from fish and zuricatas to lions and 200-kilogram alligators. Alejandro Guyot-LA NACION
That’s why vets avoid talking and cover their faces when they enter their cells. “In the case of chicks, when they are bigger, we generate aversion to people: we make them scared when they see humans. For example, we make loud noises or grab them and drop them in the air. It’s not so pretty, but it’s super necessary to survive in nature, ”he says.
However, there are rescued animals that spend years, or even their entire lives, on the foundation’s property. As Sartori explains, this is because not all animals can be reinserted. This is the case of the dozens of turtles that are raised in the Temaikén hospital.
“What happens is that you need, first, the authorization of the relevant authorities. Second, some kind of monitoring program for these animals. And third, make sure you’re releasing it in an environment that’s safe. In the context of the global extinction crisis that we are having, it really is very important to have safe genetic pools of species under human care, in good condition. Because the day that we or any of the institutions with which we collaborate want to reintegrate, they will be able to do so.
During the vaccination process of the tapirs that live in the zoo, their keepers reward them with vegetables and scratch their fur. “What relaxes tapirs the most is being scratched,” explains one of them. Alejandro Guyot – LA NACION
Many of the animals that are now in the hospital where Sartori works were rescued from illegal trafficking by local wildlife authorities. That is the case of the group of carbonaria tortoises – a species, according to the veterinarian, “highly threatened” – that grows and reproduces in this institution. A female had to undergo an unprecedented operation in the country a few years ago.
“When they arrived, they had retained eggs. They retain eggs when under poor care. After a long treatment, all but one spawned. We had to operate on her. What happens is that operating a turtle is not the same as operating, for example, a dog: you have to open the plastron, which is the bottom hard part, with a saw- It was quite complicated, due to the type of metabolism that they have of reptiles, manage to keep it stable throughout the surgery. It was quite a challenge,” she explains.
Tour of Temaiken for Veterinary DayAlejandro Guyot – LA NACION
Among the animals that live in the biopark is a toucan with a prosthetic beak. He lost part of the original in a fight and, in order for him to survive, vets had to replicate him with 3D technology. Fish, tigers, zebras, pumas, monkeys, and even a 200-kilogram alligator (which is not the same as a crocodile) have passed through the hospital operating room table in the last 20 years. The latter has been the heaviest animal they have treated. “The alligator is a beast. If you need to do any medical procedures on him, you need eight people holding him. Managing these animals requires great complexity and coordination between teams inside the foundation and outside. They are spectacular, beautiful challenges that we love to do”, says Sartori.
For Sartori, the biggest emotional challenge is having to treat birds injured by pellets or rubber bands. “Unfortunately a lot of cases come in. We can successfully recover many of them and release them, but others not and they die, ”he says. Alejandro Guyot-LA NACIONMeet The Trust Project
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