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The George Fleming Prize
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BRITISHVETERINARYJOURNAL,135,3
Once a befogged and desperate area of veterinary science, the stamping ground of well-meaning but ill-equipped dilettantes, dabblers and assorted oddballs in our profession, the medical care of nondomesticated animals has pulled itself up by its own bootstraps and stands comparison with the other venerable and less glamorous fields of work. The in-depth knowledge of the management, breeding and diseases of exotic fauna has been blooming at a remarkable speed over the past ten to fifteen years, spurred on by increased public interest in wildlife and its conservation, the boom in development of safari parks, marinelands and the like, and the realization by veterinarians that the health and well-being of domestic and wild animals is essentially indivisible. An immense volume of specialist knowledge is published in a large number of journals on the diagnosis and treatment of ailments in everything from tropical fish to giant pandas . The veterinarian faced with wild-life problems today can call on all the techniques he needs without resorting to inordinate amounts of 'guess-agnosis' as he stands impotently at the other side of the iron bars. What he hasn't had until this book came along however is a comprehensive reference book aimed primarily at the clinician. Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine fills a yawning gap admirably. It does for the zoo
veterinarian what Blood and Henderson does for the large animal practitioner and more. I find it a remarkably good first attempt in the English language and one which is far superior to the equivalent work in German. The pathologists have been reined in and there is a fine balance between the various aspects of each disease entity described, with main emphasis on diagnosis and treatment. This is a really practical book, the clear text is well illustrated by photographs. Restraint, husbandry, nutrition and reproduction are succinctly dealt with for all major groups of wild creature. The balance between the various animal Orders and the amount of space allotted to them does sometimes seem distorted; 30 pages on bats for example as against only four and a half on camels. There are excellent appendices dealing with nomenclature, drugs mentioned in the text and their sources. All in all this is a work typical of the highest standards of modern American veterinary publishing. Every veterinarian working with exotica needs to spend this £41.75; as a vademecum, the book will repay the outlay in no time. To anyone else who is curious about how to turn over a recumbent elephant, the best diet for an Afghan pika or the way to raise an orphan vampire bat, I say- read this. D. C. TAYLOR
THE GEORGE FLEMING PRIZE The George Fleming Prize for 1978 has been awarded to S. Terlecki, C. Richardson, R. Bradley, D. Buntain, G . B. Young and G. Pampiglione for their article "A Congenital Disease of Lambs Clinically Similar to 'Inherited Cerebellar Cortical Atrophy' (Daft lamb disease)" which was published in the July/August 1978 issue of the journal. The prize was instituted in 1965 to commemorate the ninetieth year of publication of the journal founded by Professor George Fleming in 1875, and is awarded by the publishers to the authors of the best article published each year.
BRITISHVETERINARYJOURNAL,135,3
Once a befogged and desperate area of veterinary science, the stamping ground of well-meaning but ill-equipped dilettantes, dabblers and assorted oddballs in our profession, the medical care of nondomesticated animals has pulled itself up by its own bootstraps and stands comparison with the other venerable and less glamorous fields of work. The in-depth knowledge of the management, breeding and diseases of exotic fauna has been blooming at a remarkable speed over the past ten to fifteen years, spurred on by increased public interest in wildlife and its conservation, the boom in development of safari parks, marinelands and the like, and the realization by veterinarians that the health and well-being of domestic and wild animals is essentially indivisible. An immense volume of specialist knowledge is published in a large number of journals on the diagnosis and treatment of ailments in everything from tropical fish to giant pandas . The veterinarian faced with wild-life problems today can call on all the techniques he needs without resorting to inordinate amounts of 'guess-agnosis' as he stands impotently at the other side of the iron bars. What he hasn't had until this book came along however is a comprehensive reference book aimed primarily at the clinician. Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine fills a yawning gap admirably. It does for the zoo
veterinarian what Blood and Henderson does for the large animal practitioner and more. I find it a remarkably good first attempt in the English language and one which is far superior to the equivalent work in German. The pathologists have been reined in and there is a fine balance between the various aspects of each disease entity described, with main emphasis on diagnosis and treatment. This is a really practical book, the clear text is well illustrated by photographs. Restraint, husbandry, nutrition and reproduction are succinctly dealt with for all major groups of wild creature. The balance between the various animal Orders and the amount of space allotted to them does sometimes seem distorted; 30 pages on bats for example as against only four and a half on camels. There are excellent appendices dealing with nomenclature, drugs mentioned in the text and their sources. All in all this is a work typical of the highest standards of modern American veterinary publishing. Every veterinarian working with exotica needs to spend this £41.75; as a vademecum, the book will repay the outlay in no time. To anyone else who is curious about how to turn over a recumbent elephant, the best diet for an Afghan pika or the way to raise an orphan vampire bat, I say- read this. D. C. TAYLOR
THE GEORGE FLEMING PRIZE The George Fleming Prize for 1978 has been awarded to S. Terlecki, C. Richardson, R. Bradley, D. Buntain, G . B. Young and G. Pampiglione for their article "A Congenital Disease of Lambs Clinically Similar to 'Inherited Cerebellar Cortical Atrophy' (Daft lamb disease)" which was published in the July/August 1978 issue of the journal. The prize was instituted in 1965 to commemorate the ninetieth year of publication of the journal founded by Professor George Fleming in 1875, and is awarded by the publishers to the authors of the best article published each year.