82 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



REPORT OF THE VETERINARIAN 

 W. Reid Blair, D.V.S. 



The health of the collections has been unusually good during 

 the past year, and we have been fortunately free from any ser- 

 ious form of contagious disease. The losses during the year 

 represent, in money and replacement value, the lowest in any 

 single year since 1901. 



During the coming year, when we may hope to receive a great 

 increase in animals, to replace our losses of the past few years, 

 we may reasonably expect a higher mortality than that of the 

 past year. However, with our present hospital and quarantine 

 facilities we are in much better condition to handle a larger 

 number of new animals than ever before in our history. 



Our greatest hopes in the control of the health of our col- 

 lections must chiefly rest on our ability to prevent the intro- 

 duction of disease from the outside by the detection of incipient 

 diseases while the animals are still under quarantine control. 



Rarely has a medical report been submitted in which con- 

 siderable attention has not been devoted to the discussion of 

 the more serious contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, dis- 

 temper, actinomycosis and parasitic broncho-pneumonia. Men- 

 tion is made of these diseases on this occasion in order to record 

 the rarity of their occurrence or total absence from the collec- 

 tions during the past year. 



Thorough and systematic routine disinfections is an im- 

 portant factor in controlling infectious and contagious diseases, 

 and particularly in reducing the number of cases due to parasitic 

 diseases such as intestinal worms. 



In dealing with parasites such as certain filaria found in 

 the lungs of elk, deer and buffalo, which require an intermediate 

 host or bearer, it is important to remember that the existence 

 and gravity of a parasitism often depends quite as much on the 

 favorable conditions of the environment as on the presence of 

 the parasite itself. 



Parasitic diseases must always be reckoned as an important 

 factor in the death rate of all zoological collections. The rea- 

 son for this is perfectly apparent. Under natural conditions, 

 a wild animal roams over considerable surface of ground and 

 the infection it spreads is, therefore, widely scattered. 



