Veterinary Services

Veterinary Care at Lincoln Park Zoo

Preventative Health Care

The zoo’s veterinarians perform more than 130 preventative wellness assessments each year. These proactive measures provide a baseline on an individual animal’s health, allowing an opportunity to detect problems at an earlier stage, and contribute to effective management. Examinations include physical evaluations; blood, urine and feces collections; vaccinations; dental cleanings; and imaging, such as radiographs (x-rays) and ultrasounds. For the safety of both the animals and zoo staff, veterinarians anesthetize many individuals for these evaluations and some treatments—not unlike how veterinarians care for domestic cats and dogs.

Responsive Care

Like humans, animals can develop chronic or degenerative diseases, such as kidney disease, diabetes, heart disease, and osteoarthritis. Many of the animals at Lincoln Park Zoo live far beyond their median life expectancy, increasing their chances of experiencing these ailments as they age. Zoo veterinarians develop and manage individualized treatment plans. They also make clinical rounds for routine observation of the animals, engage in discussions with keeper staff about each animal’s daily behavior, administer medications that cannot be hidden in food, collaborate with nutritionists on specialized diets and supplemental foods, and play an important role in positive reinforcement training that allows animals to participate in their own care.

For example, when male polar bear Siku developed itching in 2019, zoo veterinarians quickly pinpointed allergies as the likely culprit. Through collaboration with a board-certified veterinary dermatologist who conducted a series of skin tests, similar to those administered to humans, they identified the allergens: tree pollens, grasses, and weeds. The treatment plan included oral allergen immunotherapy, which dampened Siku’s overzealous natural response to the allergens.

Emergency Care

All animals are susceptible to sudden illness and injury, but at Lincoln Park Zoo, veterinarians are on hand at a moment’s notice for an emergency diagnostic exam or surgery. Such was the case in 2013 when western lowland gorilla Nayembi, then only 3 months old, sustained a serious facial injury at Regenstein Center for African Apes. The zoo’s veterinarians prepared immediately for surgery, which allowed Nayembi to make a fantastic recovery.