For Dr. Zachary Dvornicky-Raymond, a profession in conservation could have been an inevitability. An animal lover for so long as he can bear in mind, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond remembers watching the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet as a toddler and idolizing Steve Irwin. “As I grew up and was attending zoos and studying extra concerning the world, I got here to understand that all the animals that I cherished and was so interested by have been disappearing. So I all the time knew I needed to determine a manner to assist them.” Whereas he was sure he needed to work in wildlife conservation as a toddler, he wasn’t positive how. Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond notes that he all the time cherished the sciences, particularly biology, rising up. He then determined to go to varsity to pursue a serious in biology, realizing that he would sometime apply it to conservation. By some formative experiences in undergrad, together with a heartfelt dialogue with our personal Dr. Abou-Madi when he was a zookeeper intern, he realized that he may merge two main pursuits: medication and conservation. His arduous work paid off when he obtained a cellphone name one wintry morning from Dr. Beth Bunting — he had been provided a spot in Cornell Vet’s Class of 2019. To him, this was a dream come true; he accepted.
Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond is especially grateful for the chance he needed to develop his pursuits throughout his eight years at Cornell. In vet faculty, a few of his favourite programs included Conservation Medication, Captive Wildlife Administration, and a variety of enormous animal and manufacturing programs. He calls these home animal programs “simply as vital to your improvement as a zoological veterinarian” as extra overtly zoo-related programs. Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond served as Vice President of the Zoo and Wildlife Society, throughout which era he co-developed the WildLIFE Weblog. He was additionally Vice President of the Theriogenology Membership throughout his time as a pupil and took on alternatives to proceed growing his analysis expertise, together with an Increasing Horizons challenge in Namibia working with the Cheetah Conservation Fund. “We’re sitting on a gold mine at Cornell,” he says of the Increasing Horizons Program. “The chance to go overseas as a vet pupil and have company in a challenge and work on one thing fully novel to you is an expertise that’s fully price it, whether or not or not you wish to work overseas.”
Zoo/wildlife-related experiences apart, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond additionally emphasizes “leaning into issues that aren’t essentially simply {of professional} curiosity, however that additionally communicate to the center.” This spirit of exploration also needs to, in his opinion, inform externship choices. “Do one thing that you simply positively wish to do and do one thing considerably associated to it that you simply’re undecided about.” For Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond, this included an externship at a standard zoological establishment, the Brookfield Zoo, and a preceptorship at White Oak Conservation Middle. By these experiences, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond got here to like inhabitants medication and the semi-free ranging wildlife mannequin. School additionally play an integral function within the self-discovery course of. “Finally persons are school at Cornell for a purpose. They wish to be there they usually should be there. You understand they labored arduous to get there they usually wish to assist. They wish to nurture.” School at Cornell performed an integral function in serving to him select his subsequent steps after receiving his DVM. 
After commencement, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond accomplished a small animal rotating internship at VCA West Los Angeles to “acquire confidence and competence in my medical expertise.” He’s fast to emphasise the numerous potential pathways to a profession in conservation medication, together with internships in giant animal and equine medication. After finishing his first internship, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond went on to Colorado State College to finish a zoological medication and surgical procedure specialty internship, all whereas the pandemic was turning the veterinary group and the world at giant the other way up. “Studying extrapolate info and studying work in fully novel eventualities have been the most important issues that I took away from that.” From there, Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond felt known as to return to his love for population-based medication, and located Fossil Rim Wildlife Middle to be the perfect subsequent vacation spot. His present function because the David E. Wildlt Fellow in Zoological Medication there provides him an abundance of alternatives. “This place is wonderful, and with the ability to take all of that medication that I realized prior to now two years and now apply it in a special setting with new challenges is admittedly personally fulfilling. And I’m beginning to get a greater appreciation for what it means to be a veterinarian because it pertains to conservation, which is admittedly cool.”
Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond remains to be charting the course he needs to comply with when his time at Fossil Rim ends, however for him the unsure, ever-evolving nature of conservation is a part of what makes the work so particular. Whereas he’s a fan of umbrella and keystone species and is especially drawn to his favourite animal, the tiger, he’s thrilled by the numerous methods to assist save wild locations and species. “There’s a lot to know, to study, and to strive. I’ve the veterinary medication half down, however that isn’t the end-all-be-all relating to saving animals. Conservation is about folks. And in order that’s the facet of One Well being that I haven’t spent as a lot time with. I’ve obtained a fairly good deal with on one-third of it, however there’s two-thirds left and I need to have the ability to work with a transdisciplinary group and proceed to develop. I don’t know the place I’m going to be in a yr and that makes me nervous, however I do know the place I wish to be. And so long as I hold my eye on the North Star, I believe it will likely be okay. This world is altering very quickly and persons are beginning to concentrate to One Well being and the well being of our ecosystems, so I’m hopeful that that interprets into a necessity. You may solely stay hopeful, and I encourage you to remain hopeful.”
Whereas the years since his commencement have been action-packed, it wasn’t way back that Dr. Dvornicky-Raymond was in our sneakers, and he’s desperate to share his recommendation for present vet college students. First, hold an open thoughts. “Being a standard zoo vet at a zoo is one pathway. There are such a lot of other ways which you can have an effect on the pure world and on wildlife conservation that aren’t simply being a zoo vet. So don’t be discouraged by those who say there aren’t any jobs in zoological medication. These folks have a really slender sight. They’re not pondering sufficiently big.” The present state of the world, he says, requires novel options to issues, and he believes that there’s a place for everybody and their distinctive skills on this sphere. “Don’t really feel like it’s important to go all-or-nothing, so long as you’re doing one thing. When you care about it, discover some method to get entangled.” For his parting recommendation, he’s keen to veer into sentimental territory. “Observe your coronary heart. I do know I sound like a Disney character proper now. You’re going to listen to quite a lot of naysayers and also you’re going to come across quite a lot of challenges, however keep in mind that on the finish of those challenges is a lifetime of no matter you select to do. And it’s important to just remember to are fulfilled in doing that. There are methods that every individual differs that may information you to the place you’re purported to be. So comply with your coronary heart and don’t let folks let you know what to do.”
Colleen Sorge, Class of 2024, is initially from Lengthy Island, NY. She graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science and a minor in English from Cornell College. She usually finds herself lacking her humanities programs in vet faculty and is thrilled she will be able to mix her passions for writing and for veterinary medication because the WildLIFE Weblog Editor.