[A very talented friend of mine drew this picture of me after I came home from my second trip to volunteer in wildlife rehab in Thailand. It’s true that raising wild babies (in this case, civets) is one of the highlights of wildlife medicine — but the lowlights exist all the same.]

My time volunteering and working with wildlife — both in Canada and Thailand — was some of the most rewarding work I’ve done in the veterinary field. I saw some very amazing and special things, experiencing the joy of successful rehabilitation and release in both countries. But wildlife rehab is not without its low points and certainly some days were worse than other in the amount of pain and suffering we saw and did our best to treat. Often, the only option was a quick and painless end. Veterinary medicine is a turning coin of life and death at the best of times, euthanasia and recovery, and wildlife medicine is no different. And just like my time in ‘traditional’ vet med, some cases stick with me.