Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Exotics Service

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT INJURED OR ORPHANED WILDLIFE: WSU personnel are NOT able to retrieve injured or orphaned wildlife.  Wildlife are the property of the state of their origin and are also sometimes regulated by the federal government.  People with concerns about ill or injured wildlife are urged to contact the local offices of that states’ fish and wildlife service.  WSU’s veterinary teaching hospital will gladly assess wildlife brought to us and make a determination as to a course of care. As a final note, please be aware that some animals may carry diseases that can infect humans.  The most notable is rabies, which can infect all mammals.  The source of rabies in wildlife in Washington has been limited to the big brown bat but there is no reason to believe other bats could not be infected.  In general, if a bat is healthy, no human should be able to touch it.  If you can, and do touch a bat, you run the risk of being exposed to rabies which requires an extensive and expensive course of injections to prevent this essentially 100 percent fatal disease from developing.  Again, Bats like all wildlife fall under the control of their state’s game agency and most provide important information about handling all wild animals, especially bats.

Avian Emmy award-winning actress and comedienne Betty White admires a resident American Kestrel during a visit to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. White served on the steering committee for Center for the Study of Animal Well-being  (CSAW). Our exotic specialists see birds of all types for concerns ranging from feather “plucking” to reproduction problems. We have a special interest in genetic anomalies.
Raptors WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital is trained and equipped to handle raptors ranging in size from Bald Eagles to the smallest of owls. Dr. Erik Stauber is licensed through the state of Washington to accept wildlife from both in, and out of state, as a wildlife rehabilitator. No raptors may be accepted from out of state without the specific permission of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state from which the animal is coming. The most common reason we see raptors is due to factures. As a result, our most common surgery in raptors is done to stabilize those fractures. Also see our raptor pages, raptor club and sponsor-a-raptor web pages.
Reptiles Turtles, iguanas and non-poisonous snakes are just a few of the reptiles seen by our exotics service. Iguana spays and removals of “trapped” eggs are two of the most common surgical procedures we do on this group of animals
Small Mammals Hamsters, hedgehogs, guinea pigs, mice and rats, ferrets, rabbits, chinchillas and potbellied pigs all fall under the heading of Small Mammals. Dental procedures for overlong molars or incisors in rabbits or hamsters and adrenalectomies in ferrets are examples of the most common surgical procedures for these animals. Our full service laboratory allows us to perform blood testing and toxicology screening specific to these small breeds.
Wildlife We see a wide variety of non-avian wildlife in the WSU Exotics department. Some of our regular visitors include bobcats, raccoons, squirrels and rabbits. The goal with these animals is to heal their wounds, or in the case of abandoned babies to raise them, then reintroduce them into their native habitat. We have a number of specially trained volunteers that assist us in the rearing process. In addition to animals in the wild, we also address health problems or concerns in the black, brown and grizzly bears housed at the WSU Bear Research facility.