CUMBERLAND – Not everyone can say they’re living their dream – but Priscilla Joyner can.
“I’ve been crazy about animals since I can remember,” she said, “and I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a veterinarian.”
Well, Joyner is a veterinarian – and now director of animal health at The Wilds.
“Caring for animals is challenging,” Joyner noted, “but also rewarding and a privilege. I’m most reminded of this when driving through the pasture and seeing the animals living similarly to how they would in their native habitat.”
“I couldn’t imagine,” she added, “doing anything other than this.”
Dr. Joyner grew up in a northwest suburb of Chicago. “As a child,” she recalled, “I remember watching television shows about animals and being glued to the TV. Following along with these programs and the people who worked with the animals showed me it was possible to care for all species of animals. I dreamed of becoming a veterinarian and helping animals who were sick or injured.”
After high school, she received a bachelor’s in zoology from Iowa State University in 1994.
“I would dream,” Joyner remembered from her childhood, “of traveling to different countries to learn about how animals in their native ranges lived and interacted with each other in different habitats.”
Well, another dream came true when she attended the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine in Scotland. It’s the same school, by the way, British veterinary surgeon James Alfred Wight attended in the 1930s. Wight went on to author the popular All Creatures Great and Small under the pen name James Herriot.
“Our training was broad and covered all domestic species,” she recalled of her Scottish schooling. “I also enjoyed learning about wildlife, so I volunteered to work with domestic and wild animals during every school break.”
It wasn’t until she started her residency in zoo and wildlife medicine that she learned about The Wilds. She “had the wonderful opportunity to join The Wilds team” in 2018. Her role is to oversee the health, and maintain a preventive medicine program, for the animals.
“Our job is primarily one of preventive medicine,” she explained. “However, we cannot prevent all illnesses and similar to people, animals in their native range do get sick from time to time and may require immediate supportive care.”
“She’s great!” declared Dr. Jan Ramer, a veterinarian and director of The Wilds. “She’s got clinical experience, wildlife experience, conservation medicine experience, so she came to us with all kinds of experience and she’s just been great.”
“The Wilds is an amazing place to work,” Joyner summed. “I’m so happy to be working here with great people and unique and amazing animals.”
The Wilds is located at 14000 International Road in Cumberland. For more information, call 740-638-5030 or log on www.thewilds.org.
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at trnews@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com.
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September 21, 2020 at 06:41PM
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Aces of Trades: Caring for animals is lifelong dream for Joyner - Zanesville Times Recorder
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