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Q: What is an average day like for you?

A: Mornings start with briefing meetings so I know if there are any
sick or recovering animals. Then I conduct exams, from routine
health checkups to pretransport wellness assessments in cases
where animals are leaving our zoo for another zoo. The species I
work with range from hour to hour—at 11:00 an okapi, at 12:00
a penguin, at 1:00 a reindeer calf. It’s never dull!

Q: What happens during an unusual day?

A: With very little notice, I may be called on to travel along
withanimals being transported, as I recently was with our
Mexican wolf pups relocating as part of our wolf recovery
program. Things that are abnormal to most people are normal
to me. I work many weekends and holidays. I may get a call that
a screaming hairy armadillo needs an exam. One of my favorite
parts of the job is visiting with animals when they are feeling well,
like when I have a bit of downtime and can just visit with the
dolphins here at BrookfieldZoo.

Q: What is it about working here at Brookfield
Zoo that you find especially enjoyable?

A: This team is really special. Our leadership has a vision to move
zoo medicine to the next level, and we are the only zoo I know of
with this emphasis. It’s important to me to feel as though we are
making a difference. The Society has a long history of working on
species survival and is a pioneer in the veterinary care of imperiled
species such as pangolins—animals that science knows relatively
little about but will be lost to us forever unless we do something
to save them.

Q: What do you consider to be your greatest
professional accomplishment?

A: As a veterinarian interested in the conservation of endangered
species, I am proud that my work helped giant pandas to
be downlisted—in other words, to no longer be considered
endangered. It was a career highlight to have been part of a team
that drove major scientific and conservation advances for this
species. We progressed from not knowing very much about the
animals to fostering science-driven reproductive success and
boosting dwindling populations. In my field, it doesn’t get much From top: Dr. Copper Aitken-Palmer listens
to awolf pup’s heart, evaluates the internal
better than that! I hope to repeat this achievement with other organs of atree pangolin, and examines the
endangered species. eyes of a red river hogpiglet.

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