The Bergami Summer Internships Blog
June 17, 2018
Communication is very important at my internship. In everyday scenarios, I have to interact with the veterinarians, the laboratory coordinator, the veterinarian technicians, and the people who work in rehab to figure out what the plan is for the day, what other jobs and projects I should work on, and what is going on in the Center as a whole.
There are daily morning meetings for everyone in husbandry to go over the daily tasks and assignments, any trips that are occurring, any encounters or experiences that were booked, and anything else that might be important for that day. Although there are several sub-departments within husbandry, they are all interconnected and rely on each other. All of the staff members, and some fellows, have a walkie-talkie to easily reach and talk to anyone else in the aquarium.
The vet department, especially, relies on communication heavily since they are connected to every single department in the facility. We had to do cold laser therapy on one of the halibuts that had jumped out of its tank in April, so communication between the aquarium department and the vets is important to determine when a good time to do the therapy would be and when the tank is almost empty to allow the laser to reach the fish.
When it comes to rechecks of animals in either the rehab or mammal departments, we need to communicate to make sure everyone knows their roles – either to properly capture, net, and restrain the animal in a safe manner, or to help the vet perform the routine check-ups, draw blood, and record the heartrate.
It’s very important to communicate successfully when working in close quarters to animals to ensure that everyone remains safe and knows exactly what is going on.
One of the most effective communication tactics I’ve seen was on Friday, June 15. We were doing a routine check-up exam on our resident otter, Bishop, and the mammal department had to net him. Before sending two of the trainers to go out to get him, the mammal curator, Derick, and two trainers, Margaret and Jamie, had discussed in detail what their plan would be.
Animals can be unpredictable, even after months of training them, so they were discussing what they would first try and any backup plans they would need. They had first tried to coax him out of the enclosure, and he started to leave before he ran back into the pool. Grabbing the nets, they entered the enclosure and worked together to successfully get him out of the pool using hand motions and quick phrases to let the other know what they were doing.
"Communication is very important in this line of work, and there’s no day where you can escape from talking to someone."Samantha Davern ’19
They got Bishop out of the pool in under a minute, and after bringing the net into a more open area, they worked together to safely and successfully restrain him so the vet, Dr. Kathy, could inject him with a sedative. Margaret and Jamie made it look easy to net an animal, and from experience, I know it is not. They were able to successfully net him that quickly because they communicated and worked together in a cohesive manner. If they didn’t have a plan, they most likely would have taken a lot longer to get Bishop, as they wouldn’t have been working together and would have been lost.
The Bergami Summer Internship Program is funded through the generosity of Board of Governors member – and former Board Chair – Sam Bergami ’85 EMBA and his wife, Lois, and the Division of Student Affairs. The students are blogging about the experience throughout the summer.
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