Friday, May 1, 1987/The Battalion/Page 9
\&M vets help heal a giraffe, horses
'd
Large-animal clinic treats all kinds
By Susan Stubing
Reporter
II David has a cavity, he visits his
lentist. If Jane lias a stomach ache,
he visits her family'doctor. If Rex
tas heartworms, he visits his veteri-
irian. And if Ginger, a giraffe, has
in infected joint, she visits the Texas
\&M Large Animal Clinic.
But treating the joint infections of
large animals is not the only function
if the animal hospital, located on
^M’s west campus, says Ronald J.
Martens, head of the large-animal
nedicine and surgery department.
Martens says the primary f unction
ti the 71-year-old clinic is to help ed-
icate A&M veterinary students.
“This is a teaching hospital,” he
ays. “Training students is our main
nit pose here.”
The A&M veterinary school ac-
:epts 128 students a year, making
he school the largest in the country,
Martens says.
Paralleling the size of the veteri
nary school is the size of the large-
inimal clinic. The clinic’s expansive
facilities and faculty expertise estab-
ish the hospital as one of the most
eputable and technically advanced
nthe nation, Martens says.
‘We maintain a large faculty and
taff,” Martens says, “so that we are
ble to go in-depth in different and
tore specialized areas.”
Because the clinic does offer ad-
anced facilities and testing tech
niques, clients from across the state
nring their large animals to the clinic
o be treated.
“People from all over bring us
heir animals,” Martens says, “be-
:ause the equipment we have at our
lisposal helps us accomplish what
nther clinics can’t. We have every
thing a regular clinic would offer,
but much more.”
The clinic offers so much more, in
fact, that many state zoos bring their
ailing animals to the clinic.
“We have had some exotic animals
here before,” Martens says. “We had
a baby giraffe here once, and it was
the most beautiful thing you have
ever seen.” If an animal has a prob
lem that is beyond a zoo’s capacity to
handle, it will seek the clinic’s help,
he says.
wormings, castrations, vaccinations
or preventive maintenance. Martens
says.
Routine surgeries also are per
formed daily. Martens says.
“We do several orthopedic surge
ries a day,” he says, “where you have
chipped fractures to ankles and
knees. We see a lot of lameness in
horses, too.”
Such surgical techniques for ani
mals are not entirely different from
those for humans. An anesthetic is
“People from all over bring us their animals because
the equipment we have at our disposal helps us ac
complish what other clinics can’t. ”
— Ronald J. Martens, head of the large-animal surgery
and medicine department
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Zoo veterinarians are not the only
people who trust the clinic with their
exotic animals.
“We also get some different ani
mals from farms in the western part
of the state that are into raising
exotic animals,” he says.
Exotic animals, however, are not
frequent patients in the clinic. The
clinic’s primary patients are horses
and cows, with horses turning up
more often than cows, Martens says.
“We see a lot of emergency cases
with horses,” Martens says. A
woman in the hospital’s waiting
room wearily says she has been up
since 4:30 a.m. Her horse was found
tangled in a barbed-wire fence, suf
fering from dehydration.
More often, horses are brought in
for routine treatments such as de-
administered in a similar way, and
once the animal is asleep, it is put on
a table which then is raised.
But judging solely from the ap
pearance and the positioning of hu
man and animal patients, the simila
rities rapidly diminish. The image of
an animal lying on its back with its
four legs pointed stiffly upward is
hardly one that would correspond
with the image of a human in sur
gery.
Although any large animal can be
treated at the hospital, through an
ambulatory service offered by the
clinic, cattle and other “herded” ani
mals usually are treated on the farm.
Martens says it is easier to treat
cattle on the farms rather than herd
ing them all into the clinic for minor
procedures.
“Unless it is something that de
mands hospital equipment and
care,” he says, “we prefer to treat the
cattle on the farms by ambulance.”
An ambulance driven by veteri
narians and veterinary students vis
its local farms, Martens says, both
for emergencies and for routine
checkups. The service is available
seven days a week, spanning about a
25-mile radius, with varying prices,
depending on the service rendered.
“We have regular clients,” Mar
tens says, “just like a normal prac
tice, and many people take advan
tage of it.”
Brenda Jones, a client from El
Campo, says, “A lot of people I know
use the ambulance service, and if
their animals need treatment, they
all bring them here.”
Many are aware of most services
the clinic offers, Martens says, but
this awareness is accompanied by
many misconceptions.
“Some people think that the stu
dents are the only ones working on
the animals,” he says. “This isn’t
true. A doctor is always present; the
students just help.”
Another misconception. Martens
says, is that many people in the com
munity think the clinic’s services are
free. Prices for equivalent services
are comparable, if not less than what
local veterinarians charge.
“Although we are not here for
profit-making,” he says, “our fund
ing base does depend on making
some money. Our prices are usually
less and many people in the commu
nity take advantage of them and the
other services offered here.”
A&M sorority sponsors
cycling competition
to raise charity funds
By Ty Walters
Reporter
Bicycle racers from as far as
Houston and Dallas will be gath
ering in College Station Sunday
to compete and raise funds for
several charities.
Organizers say Delta Zeta so
rority’s second annual Cyclefest
already has signed up more than
double the number of entries as
last year, about 50 so far, and
more are expected to register by
Sunday.
“Cycling has become very pop
ular,” event organizer Nancy
Ruggiero says.
The sorority was looking for
the type of fundraiser that was
“new and original,” Ruggiero
says.
Cyclefest became the group’s
big fundraiser last year after
problems hindered the previous
year's event. Fall lest.
All of the race proceeds will go
to the Gallaudet School for the
Deaf, a school chartered by Abra
ham Lincoln, Ruggiero says.
“It’s the only college for the
deaf in the world,” she adds.
Donations also will go to some
local charities, including Shel
tering Arms in Bryan.
Last year’s race raised over
$2,000 for charity, Ruggiero says.
That amount was enough to win
an award for the sorority at its na
tional convention.
But the race also is designed to
provide a challenge for serious
cyclists from around the state.
“It’s a serious race,” Ruggiero
says. “We try to be as professional
as possible.”
Last year’s race, she says, was
so successful that cycling clubs
have been writing letters to ask
about this year’s event.
All participants will start at 8
a.m. Sunday in the Post Oak Mall
parking lot and race down FM 30
toward Huntsville.
Depending on the class they
enter, racers can ride 10, 30, 60
or even 85 miles. The 85-mile
course will go through Anderson,
Plantersville and Navasota before
its finish.
The course is laid out carefully
to avoid traffic and busy intersec
tions, she says.
Aid stations, where drinks and
fruit are available, will be placed
every 10 to 15 miles along the
course. Several cars will be on the
course to help riders with me
chanical problems.
Awards are given to all fin
ishers along with special prizes
for class winners and top-10 fin
ishers, Ruggiero says.
The Zephyr Club is sponsoring
the cookout and award presenta
tion after the race. Free food and
drinks will be available for all rid
ers.
Entries are available at the
Texas A&M Intramural office,
Cycles Etc. and the Delta Zeta
house.
Unclaimed bank deposits
to be auctioned by state
AUSTIN (AP) — Treasurer Ann
Richards hopes someone will attend
the state’s auction of unclaimed bank
deposits and find a family treasure
that Aunt Bessie put in a safety de
posit box and forgot.
“That would be wonderful,” Rich
ards said Thursday at a preview of
some of the 30,000 unclaimed ob
jects that will be on sale May 9-10.
At the first auction in 1985, a cou
ple identified items that once be
longed to a relative.
“We’re particularly interested in
these two valuable rings.” Richards
said, displaying a 5-carat pear-
shaped diamond and a 2-carat di
amond surrounded by other stones.
“They were owned by a San Anto
nio woman who put them in a San
Antonio bank deposit box,” she said.
“We know she went to Mexico City
but we don’t know where from
there. She just disappeared. Van
ished.”
The first auction of unclaimed
items produced about $188,000 for
the treasury.
State law says if a bank is forced to
open a safety deposit box because ol
unpaid rental, the bank must keep
the contents for five years. Then the
bank gives the items to the treasury.
“We are always looking for the
owners but there reaches a point
when we really have to get rid of
contents,” Richards said.
“If the owner turns up after the
auction we give them what we re
ceived,” she said.
The treasury advertises the un
claimed items once a year in newspa
pers throughout the state. A profes
sional locators’ firm is hired, on a
commission basis, to attempt to find
owners of the valuable items.
Texans recover after eating
spoiled Mexican cheese
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Three
people are recovering from a vicious
form of brucellosis they contracted
after eating unpasteurized goat
cheese from Mexico, health officials
said.
During February and March, two
pregnant women and a 12-year-old
boy were afflicted with brucellosis
melitensis, which causes intermittent
fever, headaches, weakness, sweat
ing, chills and joint and muscle pain,
the San Antonio Metropolitan
Health District reported.
The three patients, health of ficials
said, are recovering, although both
women required hospitalization.
None of the cheese eaten by the
patients was bought in stores. Either
friends or a door-to-door peddler
supplied the cheese, official said.
“People should not buy, eat or al
low in their homes cheese that is not
labeled properly or packaged prop
erly.” warned Justus Baird, Metro
politan Health District coordinator
of food and environmental services.
In Houston in recent years, 31
cases of the disease have occurred
after people ate unpasteurized
cheese from door-to-door salesmen.
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