Dr. Holly Haefele

Dr. Haefele Completes First Year as Head Veterinarian

Holly became the Director of Animal Health on the first day of July, 2006 and an eventful year has followed on which she reports, “I ‘cut my teeth’ on black rhino anesthesia and giraffe knockdowns.” Being a head veterinarian at a facility like Fossil Rim, that is responsible for a variety of very endangered animals, is definitely a challenge. Not only has Holly survived her first year, she managed to get some success stories under her belt as well. With her help the dedicated team at the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken facility saw record survivability in chicks this year, and a Maned Wolf, who was diagnosed with hypothyroid disease, fully recovered under her care and even gave birth to a litter of healthy puppies. Holly’s dietary management of the wolf was such a success that she will be presenting her findings at an AAZV (American Association of Zoological Veterinarians) conference in the fall.

Along with the excitement of her position comes many challenges, and Holly admits that one of the most difficult things about being Head Vet is having to make some tough decisions on her own. Although she truly enjoys being able to lead what she describes as a “competent, very experienced team of co-workers”, she knows that the final call on a tough procedure will be hers to make.

Overall, Holly really enjoys “actually getting to be involved at the management level. Meeting with the directors of other departments and talking about the ‘big picture’ is great; it keeps us from getting bogged down with the day-to-day.” And after such a promising first year as Fossil Rim’s Head Vet, Holly seems to have already learned how to balance these new managerial duties with her work in the field. We all wish her continued success for the years to come!