UPDATE
Vol. XXIV, No. 1
Louisiana Otters Visit SVM
Fifty-three river otters were admitted as patients of the Veterinary
Teaching Hospital on January 30, 1999,
for health checkups and vaccinations,
on their way to being released in the
Blue River in southern Indiana. Dr.
Wallace Morrison, professor of small
animal medicine, directed the 12-hour
clinic that involved about 30 students
and faculty at Purdue, and 12 people
from the Department of Natural
Resources. This was the last stage of the
state's five-year program to reintroduce
the river otter to Indiana's waterways.
Otters are "not domesticated at all,
and they have to be handled with a lot
of care," Morrison said. Otters are relatively aggressive animals, and each was
anesthetized before being carefully
removed from its cage for examination
by the team of veterinarians. After
being weighed, measured and tagged,
blood and stool samples were taken for
ongoing studies. Then the otters were
ready for their individual treatment.
Dr. Greg Inskeep (PU '84) of
Rensselaer, who has been involved in
all five years of the release program, did
19 root canals and several extractions.
Administering dental care to reduce
pain and preserve teeth is important
because the otters use their teeth to
catch prey and eat. Other otters needed
medical care for cuts and injured toes.
One of the volunteers was
Catherine Scott-Moncrieff, professor of
small animal medicine at SVM, who
has been involved with the project four
of the past five years. "It's a real privilege to work with these
animals," she said.
"There's so little
wilderness left. I hope
someday to see an otter
in the Wabash outside
my house."
The river otter
release is coordinated
by the Indiana Department of Natural
Resources in an effort
to reintroduce the
animal to state waterways. The 53 otters that
were treated at the
Veterinary Teaching   Turner and Dr. Scott
Hospital were trapped in Louisiana and
transported to Indiana by the DNR. In
all, more than 300 otters have been
released in 12 sites, and nearly all the
reintroduced otters have survived.
River otters, an animal native to the
Hoosier state, disappeared from Indiana
waters nearly 60 years ago because of
excess trapping and loss of habitat.
State wildlife biologists say otters now
occupy 22 counties in the state.
is joined by (from L to R) Kris Kazmierczak, Terri
Moncrieff.
In This Issue
Dean's Column  2
Named Scholarships  3-4
Splicing Spinal Cords   5,27
Portraits of Excellence 6
Focus on Faculty 7-9
New Hope for Endangered Species ..13
Hospital Updates 14,15
Fall Conference Highlights ... .17-18
Update on Alumni  19-21
In Memory  22
Recruiting the Best  23
Classofl998 24
New Support for Tomorrow's
Veterinarians
By Kevin Doerr
Gifts target student financial need
Alumni and veterinary clients have
stepped forward with major financial
support to help alleviate the significant
financial needs of Purdue veterinary
students. Four new scholarships illustrate how the School, alumni, faculty,
and clients are having a major impact
on the future of the veterinary medical
profession.
Callahan Scholarship Endowed by
Alumnus
Dr. C. James Callahan, professor
emeritus of Veterinary Clinical
Sciences, received the surprise of a lifetime at the retirement banquet held in
his honor. That's when Dr. Edward L.
Sommers, (PU '64), of Bourbon,
Indiana, announced that he had estab-
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