An example of compassionate care in equine veterinary medicine

The first image of this series is intentionally misleading. One is quick to think that the patient receiving care is the horse, when in fact it is a two-week old foal laying at its feet. This is a really beautiful example of how sentience is not only recognized in horses but how it can be respected and factored in during care. The medical procedure in this particular instance can be safely performed at the entrance of the stall, allowing the mother to keep a close eye on her baby. This kind of setup keeps stress to a minimum for mother, baby and staff. And less stress better serves safety during care, especially when handling large animals such as horses.

If there ever were a hedgehog queen...

Dr. Julie Botman, a wildlife veterinarian at the Oniris Wildlife Clinic in Nantes, does absolute miracles for the rescued hedgehogs that come into her care. Hedgehogs are frequent visitors for wildlife clinics here in France. Fully sedated, this little fellow is having his dressing changed and will continue to be monitored until full recovery of his skin lesions before release back to his natural habitat.

A sparrowhawk in gentle hands

A rescued Eurasian sparrowhawk is captured in a rehabilitation aviary for a thorough check-up. The hawk is no match for the wildlife caretaker, who swiftly and without error captures the bird to perform a necessary limb, wing and feather check. One-handedly and with great care, she takes photographs of the bird’s defective feathers for follow-up. The bird is released until her next visit.

Rescue of a barn owl

Rescue of a barn owl at the Oniris Veterinary Wildlife Clinic in Nantes, France. Suffering from an injury leading to damaged feathers, the owl was thoroughly examined, tagged with a ring, medicated and transferred to the aviary for a long rehabilitation. The fortunate barn owl was reunited with another rescue of the same species.

Covid Sniffer Dog

Dog in training to detect COVID in human sweat samples.

The cone allows the dog to sniff the scent of samples placed inside glass containers, while the white sheet serves as a control when the dog has not detected any sample positive for COVID. This simple and ingenious research method serves to strengthen the reliability of the test results.

Research is promising and ongoing where dogs are being trained to detect various pathologies, such as cancer and diabetes.

Did you know that dogs possess a sense of smell many times more sensitive than even the most advanced man-made instrument and the part of a dog's brain devoted to analysing smells is about 40 times greater than ours? Try wiggling your nostrils on that canine fact!

Passing Through

A collection of amusing, idiosyncratic reactions we humans can observe when our presence has been detected by another fellow creature. This series tells the story of observer versus the observed.

Trap Neuter and Release

Subject to constant hunger, these feral cats live by a set of hierarchical rules that dictate colony behavior and ultimately, survival. Shy and fearful, they are intelligent negotiators, full of audacity and capable of showing both gratitude and respect. I am still learning about the nature of these cats, finding these outcasted creatures are high potential and very much deserving of a good home.

With the help of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation I have been able to finance the sterilisation of these cats to reduce overpopulation and unnecessary suffering at my doorstep.

TNR programs and keeping domestic cats indoors are part of community and individual efforts that help to protect local wildlife.

Silent Passing

I hate darkness and sleep and night and lie longing for the day to come. I long that the week should be all one, without divisions. As each thing in the bedroom grows clear, my heart beats quicker. I feel my body harden, and become pink, yellow, brown. My hands pass over my legs and body. I feel its slopes, its thinness.

Things seem paler.

I shall wander and pick flowers, green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured May, wild roses and ivy serpentine. I will clasp them in my hands and lay them down, sun drenched. I faint, I fail. My body thaws; I am unsealed. I am incandescent.

Adapted from Virginia Wolf’s extraordinarily poetic vision, The Waves (1931).