The MSU College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and the Potter Park Zoo have been partnered for over half a century now, a collaboration that was recognized with the Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Research at the 2021 University Outreach and Engagement Awards.

The partnership was spearheaded by Dr. Jim Sikarskie, MSU’s first zoo and wildlife veterinarian, beginning in 1975. Under Sikarskie’s guidance, the two institutions joined together for animal health research, environmental conservation, and educational opportunities for the community and veterinary students at MSU.

“That relationship, I think, is unique in the zoo and university world” Dr. Dalen Agnew, Professor and Department Chair Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation at MSU CVM said, “I think that it makes a big impact in research which reaches far outside of our borders.”

Agnew currently supports the partnerships between the university and both the Potter Park and Binder Park zoos, one of many people who have been instrumental in facilitating the success of the collaboration. Dr. Tara Harrison became Potter Park Zoo’s first full-time veterinarian in 2003 and, like Sikarskie, helped to further the partnership and provide many educational opportunities for MSU CVM students as well.

Today, husband-and-wife duo Dr. Ronan Eustace and Dr. Kim Thompson, both adjunct faculty and zoo veterinarians, are at the forefront of the efforts in animal health, research and veterinary education in MSU’s collaboration with the zoos. Eustace is the director of animal health at the Potter Park Zoo and Thompson is the Staff Veterinarian at the Binder Park Zoo.

 “Partnering with the experts at the vet school is really a win-win” Thompson said, “we can pull in their knowledge on cases to really give these animals the best care possible.”

 CVM students have the opportunity to learn and gain hands-on experience in animal care and research at both zoos under the guidance of Eustace and Thompson

“Instead of just being there and observing, I really felt involved in the process,” Hunter Ferchaw, second-year CVM student, said.

“When students get up close to a rhino or tiger, it’s a memorable and transformative experience-often the students change into advocates for conservation” Eustace said.

Zoo medicine is a field that is relatively small and having opportunities to learn in the zoos makes an impact for students aspiring to enter the field.  

“I would not be where I am [in my career] without Potter Park Zoo and their medical program and how willing they were to let me come and help them,” said Dr. Bridget Walker, a CVM alum who currently is in a prestigious internship program at the University of Florida.

You might learn in a zoology course about mutualistic relationships, and you can tell by the longevity of the partnerships alone that the collaboration between CVM, the Potter Park Zoo and Binder Park Zoo is an example of one. You could even say it goes beyond that when one considers the implications that research and education can have for global conservation