Joey Thurman: The zoo is a place where we can get up close to some of the most majestic creatures on this planet. But rarely do we get a chance to see what goes on behind the scenes in taking care of these amazing animals. We're going to pull back the curtain and give you a glimpse at the incredible care and love the staff of Phillips Park Zoo gives, even taking special COVID protocols. Emma Hairrell: Anytime that we're working with an exotic animal, especially a large mammal, there have been a lot of cases in zoos where big cats have contracted COVID from humans, especially people who are working in contact with them at a close proximity. So the whole staff, we're going to wear our masks, our gloves, we're going to change that equipment out in between cats. We're going to be working with multiple cats today, and we want to make sure that we're being as careful as we can. Joey Thurman: While the cats are under anesthesia, each staff member has a job, such as taking vitals, oxygen, heart rate, blood work, breathing, and checking for anything of concern on the cat itself, such as lesions or lumps. All of these checks and balances gives the staff an idea of how they are doing known as. Emma Hairrell: All that gives us an opportunity to check how we're doing on our husbandry, or how we take care of them. Joey Thurman: Husbandry? Emma Hairrell: Yes. So that's the term for the methodology of caring for an animal. Joey Thurman: Oh, I'm a husbandry. I had to. It was right there. Emma Hairrell: So they are firing up the dental equipment right now. Joey Thurman: Oh, cool. Emma Hairrell: And this is actually officially the first time we've had the ability to do any dental work in-house. In the past, we would need to sedate and then transport the animals offsite to a veterinary clinic where they had this equipment. It's much safer for both the animals and the staff for us to be able to just do it all in-house. Joey Thurman: Yeah. Emma Hairrell: Taking care of his teeth is going to not only help improve his oral health, and make sure that he's able to eat a healthy diet and chew his food well, but it's also going to, just like with humans, our dental health relates to our cardio health and all kinds of things. So this is very important preventative care to help him stay healthy in the long term. Joey Thurman: Cats get old just like us. So Dr. Laura checks the animal's mobility, and has an individualized care plan. Emma Hairrell: And that's everything from the habitat that they have, how much training they receive, how we give them exercise, what their individual diet and supplements would look like. So it is very tailored to the individual. And that's often informed by what we learn during these checkups. On some level, animals have pretty good instincts about out how to meet their own needs in the wild. But ultimately, when you compare the quality of life and the lifespan for exotic animals in the wild versus in zoos that are doing everything right and taking really good care of them, we find that they tend to be much healthier and live much longer lives in zoo environments because we can give them that preventative care, we can intervene when things aren't going well for them. Joey Thurman: They say it takes a village to raise a child. In the case of these cats, it takes an entire zoo staff.