It did and when I returned on Thursday morning, three days later, to read the test, I was invited to stay for lunch afterwards. With a twinkle in his eye, Mr Howard informed me we would be having roast chicken. It was delicious, but as I devoured it gratefully, I decided not to enquire whether it was Sid Vicious.
Chickens: fast facts
Gallus gallus domesticus: The domesticated chicken
Distribution: Chickens are a sub-species of the red jungle-fowl, originally found in South-East Asia, from Nepal down to Indonesia, but now globally dispersed.
Names: A male aged less than a year is called a ‘cockerel’, over a year ‘cock’ or ‘rooster’. A young female is a ‘pullet’, then a ‘hen’. The young are ‘chicks’. Adult chickens produced for meat are called ‘broilers’, those produced for eggs ‘layers’. A group of hens is called a ‘brood’.
Life span: About 5–10 years.
Habitat: Originally the jungle, but now wherever humans inhabit.
Diet: Chickens are omnivores in the wild, or free ranging, scratching about in the soil for seeds or insects, or eating lizards, snakes and mice. In the broiler industry, their food is the most scientifically researched of any nutrition in the world.
Incubation: 21 days: a hen will lay a clutch of about 12 eggs, which won’t start developing until she starts incubating them, all 12 thus hatching together.
Weight: 30–50 grams at birth, growing up to 0.5–4.5 kg as adults.
Growth: Males and females are considered fully grown at 1 year.
Body temperature: 40.6–41.7 °C.
Chickens for food: More than 50 billion chickens are reared annually for meat and eggs (that’s 6.5 chickens per person). Of these, 74 per cent of broilers and 68 per cent of layers are produced intensively. In the commercial UK broiler industry it now takes just 30 days for a bird to reach its slaughter weight of 1.5 kg (in 1925 it took 120 days), and free-range or organic broilers will be slaughtered at 100 days. Commercial laying hens will produce up to 300 eggs in their first year, but after this the rate drops to below commercial viability, when they are slaughtered and used in processed foods. In some other countries, sadly, when laying drops off, flocks are sent into a forced moult by a complete withdrawal of food and often water for up to 14 days, which reinvigorates egg-laying: a major welfare concern.
Conservation: With a present conservative estimate of 19 billion chickens worldwide, they are certainly not a threatened species in terms of extinction – but in terms of their welfare the situation remains urgent. As the single largest source of human protein globally, a commercialized poultry industry is inevitable; but we have a duty to uphold the highest welfare standards in this, as in all meat industries. So if you have the time and the inclination, why not give an ex-commercial hen a happy retirement by visiting www.bhwt.org.uk/rehome-some-hens?.
8
MANED WOLF
‘A gentleman is simply a patient wolf.’
Lana Turner
The practice’s dart gun had recently been decommissioned after a rather unfortunate incident one Saturday afternoon at a local wildlife park. A heavily pregnant female wolf had just started showing signs of whelping, but despite several hours of restless pacing, panting, discernible contractions and straining, no cubs had yet been produced. The keepers were understandably concerned and so had rung the practice for veterinary assistance, suspecting she needed a caesarean section. Rob was on call so had grabbed the dart gun, some darts and all the other equipment he might require for the procedure and headed over to the park. The wolf had taken to her den, a manmade cave with a vantage point above it, so Rob could get close enough to safely dart her from about 10 metres away. She was in a confined space, and all the wolves were fairly used to interacting with humans, so not easily spooked by the presence of strangers. The conditions seemed perfect for making it as straightforward a job as possible.
Unfortunately, the one element Rob hadn’t factored into the equation was the state of the dart gun, which had been converted from an old .22 calibre rifle several years before and was now rarely used. Most of the animals we dealt with at the two wildlife parks were trained either to stand for injections or else to walk into the built-in cages in their enclosures. Rob’s first two attempts misfired, resulting in the dart rather pathetically falling out of the end of the dart gun, and his third attempt flew over the wolf’s back, embedding in the den wall. His fourth attempt landed 2 feet short of her, but finally with the fifth dart, much to his relief, having waited a further twenty minutes for the now agitated female to settle again, he landed a perfect rump shot. The rest of the procedure went smoothly: she went to sleep nicely, and it was found that a caesarean was indeed required because the first cub was dead and stuck, but the remaining five were delivered fine and healthy. Mum recovered without complication, and the keepers had quickly forgotten the initial problems encountered with the dart gun.
Rob, however, had not, and when Monday morning came, a rather irritated email was circulated advising, justifiably, that the dart gun was not considered safe for use and was going to be sent away for a service and assessment, so would be out of action till further notice. The cost of repair turned out to be prohibitively expensive, however, so a discussion followed as to whether the practice needed to replace it, given how infrequently it was required. The alternatives were to ask the two wildlife parks that we worked for if they wanted to purchase a weapon of their own, or else for us to call in a specialist if and when the situation arose.
Unfortunately, no solution had yet been found when, a few weeks later, we received a panicked phone call from the other wildlife park. One of their male maned wolves was struggling to urinate and seemed to be in a lot of discomfort. The scenario sounded urgent: a suspected blocked bladder or urethra. If he were showing obvious signs of discomfort, then his bladder would already be full, so if the blockage was not resolved soon he could end up with either kidney failure or a burst bladder, neither of which has a good prognosis.
Dave called me from the other surgery and outlined the problem, asking if I was free to assist him.
‘Sure, I’ll get Jackie to rearrange my morning visits so I can go straight away,’ I replied. ‘But what on earth is a maned wolf?’
‘Imagine a fox on steroids. They’re the same colour, look similar, but standing on their back feet they’re 8 feet tall.’
‘Wow! Interesting … Yeah, I’m on my way – but what’s the deal with the dart gun?’
‘Good question. I haven’t really figured that out yet. We might be able to get him into his night-quarters and inject him somehow, or maybe drug his food. There’s someone in Somerset with a dart gun, but they’ll be three hours away, even if they can come out, or there’s Paignton Zoo, but the same problem. So in all honesty I’m not sure … I figured we just need to get there, assess the situation and then decide. Any ideas?’
‘Remote injection pole? Do we have one?’
‘Not that I know of.’
‘Maybe we could make one?’
‘Not sure how, but if you can figure something out, then great. I’ve got a case I’m in the middle of dealing with now so I probably won’t be able to leave for an hour, but can you get everything together to operate on her, and head over there to assess the situation as soon as you can? I’ll join you when I’m finished here.’
I headed to Jackie’s office and reported the situation. She kindly obliged in rearranging the three non-emergency large animal visits that were booked in for the morning, thus freeing me up to head out to the wolf. As I started collecting the equipment we might need in the prep room, I was racking my brain for a solution to our predicament. Calling in someone from outside to dart the wolf presented all sorts of problems. Firstly, it would be a minimum of three hours from now, even if they were able to come immediately. I should probably ring them, though, to ask after their availability, and have them on standby if they could come. Secondly, though, that delay would really foul up our day, since all the scheduled visits and appointments would need to be further rearranged, or else someone would be required to cover for us. Neither was ideal, but if necessary, both could be done.