By Jennifer Blake
Published: Jul. 21, 2023 at 7:41 PM EDT
Original article
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – The vet and owner of Patterson Vet Hospital has donated anesthesia machines and other medical supplies to the Metro Richmond Zoo.
“I just really felt kind of, ya know, fond of this place and the animals here, and I just feel like they’ll get better care with this kind of equipment,” said Hannah Minch, the owner of Patterson Vet Hospital.
This comes about a month and a half after a fire destroyed parts of the zoo, including the animal hospital.
“We’re happy to use this equipment; it’s a big help because we lost a lot in the fire,” said Jim Andelin, the director of the Metro Richmond Zoo.
They are working on securing a trailer or sending animals to other vets if they don’t have the equipment, but this donation will help that.
A vet who has been at the Metro Richmond Zoo since 2003, Cheryl Antonucci, said the anesthesia machines donated are more updated than the ones they’ve been using.
”So when she donated some machines that did both, there’s two different types of gases you can use called sevoflurane, so I was pretty excited to get a bi machine that can do both,” Antonucci said.
Andelin is hopeful the rebuilding will be completed in about six more months.
“Now we’re in the rebuilding stages; of course, it’s going to take a little while,” he said.
