ShareThisBy ERIKA CHAVEZ
Sunday, November 19, 2006
It has been a grim, exhausting month for the 35 University of California Davis veterinarians and students who continue to care for hundreds of sheep injured in a fire that scorched 11,000 acres in rural Yolo County.
Amid the pain and death, however, the students have found tiny rays of hope: six baby lambs they have helped birth and nurse to health.
Most of the 1,200 sheep at Slaven Farms were pregnant and nearing full term when the fire struck on Sept. 22, said Mike Slaven, whose family has raised sheep for four generations.
Only about 200 remain.
Each day since the devastating blaze, students and professors have been heading out to examine and treat the surviving animals, as well as euthanize those who are not recovering or are in too much pain.
"Emotionally and physically, it's been really draining," said Kristen Fosnaugh, a third-year veterinary student.
Raising their spirits have been the half-dozen woolly creatures who survived the 30 Caesarean sections the students have performed so far.
"Even if we only save these six, it will all be worth it," said Fosnaugh, who has been caring for the sheep since the day after the fire.
It has been a difficult but invaluable learning experience for the veterinary students, Fosnaugh said.
"I never would have handled this many tube feedings and C-sections," she said. "I've also learned how to revive and resuscitate newborn animals."
Counseling has been made available for any student who requests it, but the births have been a psychological boon, said Dr. John Madigan, a University of California, Davis, veterinarian and head of the Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT) that has treated the animals.
"Any time you have a healthy newborn that comes out of a bad situation, it's uplifting," Madigan said. "It's something good where there is a lot of misery."
The first of the 30 lambs delivered by C-section was born Oct. 5 and named Zamora, after the land tracts burned by the blaze. The lamb was a beacon of light for the students' spirits even as they continued to euthanize sheep whose wounds weren't healing, or who were in excruciating pain as their scorched nerve endings grew back.
Zamora was premature and developed respiratory distress syndrome; she died at 3 days old.
Between taking tests and completing laboratory assignments, the students take delight in tube-feeding and bottle-feeding the baby lambs; the newborns must be fed nutrient-rich colostrum every two hours, and the bleary-eyed budding veterinarians are glad to comply, even if they have to take a couple of the newest lambs home for the night.
One sheep gave birth naturally Friday morning at Slaven's farm, but the ewe wasn't producing any milk and her udders were so burned and painful that she wouldn't allow the lamb to nurse.
Slaven took the baby to the VERT students at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Large Animal Clinic; he knew they would do what they could to nurture the lamb.
"What they have done is great," said Slaven. "They just stepped in. I wouldn't have known what to do or how to feed them. This way, the sheep have got a better chance."
For information on how to donate to VERT or to the sheep ranchers, go to www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/home/VERT/
(Erika Chavez can be reached at (916) 321-1016 or echavez(at)sacbee.com.)
