Printable version Email this to a friend

Edmund Flach - Pathologist

What happens when an animal dies at the zoo?

When any animal dies we perform a full post-mortem. This involves opening the animal up to take a good look inside, taking tissue samples to be analyzed, and trying to determine the cause of death. By doing this we can learn how to improve our care for the living animals and learn a lot more about the diseases and parasites that our animals are susceptible to.

This morning, I performed post-mortems on a Partula snail and a day-old duckling. At the other end of the scale, I have post-mortemed giraffes here in London, and an elephant at Whipsnade Zoo. The difference in size calls for different methods and tools; I would use tiny tweezers to investigate the Partula snail, whereas an elephant post-mortem requires a team of vets.

Tissue samples will go to the microbiologist to examine, animal bodies and parts are required for museums and universities.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities?

The day begins with an 8 a.m. meeting in which I will talk to the veterinary department and swap information about certain animals, and I’ll catch up on reports. After that, I go down to the post-mortem room, which is on site here at London Zoo, to perform the day’s post-mortems. There are around 17,000 animals here, so we very frequently have post-mortems to perform. During the post-mortem I will be taking thin tissue samples which I send for analysis by the microbiologist. After lunch, I will spend some time looking at samples under the microscope.

Does all this work take place at the zoo?

Yes, we have a full veterinary team on site here at London Zoo and at Whipsnade Zoo. I am based at London, but I’ll spend at least one day a week at Whipsnade. We have a pathology department here and post mortems are carried out on site. As for the vets dealing with living animals, we will very often be able to treat them in their own enclosures, but when that is impossible, we can move them into the hospital. If they are going to be there for an extended period, we will bring a companion from their enclosure to keep them company.