Education and conservation drive Cornell-zoo partnership

It was spring of 1997. A team of experts from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine drove north on New York Interstate 81 in a rented truck packed with expensive and unwieldy equipment to see a very special patient — a three-month old Asian elephant named Mali.

Mali was born at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. While Mali’s birth had gone smoothly, she was born with an umbilical hernia — a defect in the abdominal wall where a loop of intestine bulged dangerously. While these abnormalities can often close on their own, Mali’s had not — increasing her risk of death or complication during future pregnancies. With only 40,000 of her species left, ensuring Mali’s survival was imperative.

Surgery was the only option, but a daunting one. General anesthesia and surgical interventions in elephants came with high mortality rates. At that time, only two other cases of surgical hernia repair had been reported for this species — and both had postoperative complications. What Mali needed was anything but routine.

Fortunately, the zoo staff knew Dr. George Kollias, section head of zoological medicine at the time (now the Jay Hyman Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Medicine) and an expert on elephants. After getting the call for help, Kollias assembled a team: his zoological medicine colleague Dr. Noha Abou-Madi; large animal surgeons Drs. Norm Ducharme and Richard Hackett; and large animal anesthesiologist Dr. Robin Gleed. The group loaded an anesthesia machine, a large animal surgical table, and all necessary medicines and supplies into a rented moving truck to build a makeshift surgical suite at the zoo.

For nearly an hour, the team worked calmly and meticulously on the surgery, while the zoo staff waited, holding their breath.

That high-stakes surgery sparked what has become a 22-year relationship between the Rosamond Gifford Zoo and the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

This formal contract, drawn up by Kollias and the zoo, is mutually beneficial, providing world-class care for endangered species while giving veterinarians and students unprecedented access and training on rare species and conditions. It also enabled Cornell to launch a residency program in zoological medicine, which formed a trifecta alongside Cornell’s wildlife health center and exotic pet clinic.

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