IWS has recently completed a mobile wildlife research hospital to support our field projects requiring a high level of veterinary or real-time laboratory support.  The hospital was built in a 48’ gooseneck trailer, which allows it to be moved between locations with relative ease.

The laboratory has the necessary equipment to conduct standard veterinary blood analyses using a hospital hematology machine, a serum chemistry analyzer, centrifuges, and a microscope.  Stable storage of blood and other tissues are supported in our -80° C freezer.  The laboratory also has an autoclave for sterilizing instruments as well as computer and internet resources.

The operating room provides full surgical capability, including a surgery table and light, patient monitor, anesthesia machine, oxygen generator and back-up oxygen tanks, IV fluid pumps, ultrasound and circulating heating pad.  The equipment in the trailer can be operated by external power sources or by a self-contained gas-powered generator.

The hospital is currently being used to provide medical support on San Nicolas Island for island foxes that may become injured as part of an effort to restore seabird populations through the live-capture and removal of feral cats from the island.  The project is funded by the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program (www.darrp.noaa.gov/southwest/montrose/msrphome.html), which has also funded the bald eagle restoration program on the Channel Islands (see our Bald Eagle pages), peregrine falcon monitoring, and other programs. 

For the seabird restoration project, IWS provides care for injured island foxes, whether or not the injury was the result of feral cat trapping efforts.  We also temporarily care for the captured feral cats as they wait to be transported to a facility on the mainland operated by the Humane Society of the United States (www.hsus.org) that will provide long-term care for the cats.

IWS biologist Hower Blair examines an island fox while biologist Daniel Jackson records data.