John Ball Zoo’s penguins go to the doctor
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Penguins: They’re just like us — especially when it comes to yearly physicals.
The colony of Magellanic penguins at John Ball Zoo had their annual wellness checks Thursday. All 23 penguins were put through several tests to ensure they continue to stay healthy as the zoo gets set to welcome guests back next month.
“Just like every other animal in our zoo, they’re all scheduled for routine health checks with a certain frequency. For these guys, it’s once a year and allows us to get a good look at them and make sure that they’re nice and healthy,” Dr. Ryan Colburn, a veterinarian at JBZ said.
Each penguin had the ID bands on its wings checked to make sure it was in good condition. The animals then had blood drawn to test for diseases, their beaks and nails trimmed and a full physical.
On top of that, zoo staff also conducted X-rays on the birds who were calm enough to stay put in the “McGyvered” system, created strictly for penguins at JBZ. More than a dozen staff members assisted Colburn and another zoo veterinarian in carrying out the exams.
The exams the penguins go through every year are very different than some of the other animals at JBZ, including the fact that they are awake for them. This can pose a problem for staff members.
“As cute as penguins are, they’re very able to tell you when they don’t like something,” Colburn said. “So, we have to make sure that we’re safe as well and not getting bit or something like that.”
Some of the birds can fight with staff if they get too stressed out from the exams. Colburn said that they are prepared for when that happens.
“Anytime any animal or person goes to the doctor, it can be very stressful. So, the biggest thing we try to do is make sure that things are very efficient, that we have everything ready ahead of time and can go smoothly from one step to the next,” he said. “We have a rest area in the setup as well so if (a penguin) is getting very agitated by the process, they can just kind of relax for a little while. We always know that if we need to, we can always abort the process.”
The 30,000-gallon pool in the penguins’ exhibit was drained for cleaning but has since been refilled and the penguin colony is back to its regular routine. JBZ is set to reopen later next month.
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