Clinically Wild: Alaska

"People just show up with the weirdest things ... I remember an albatross we had many years ago. It was such a big bird, we had to keep it in a dog run."

When the last great American wilderness is your back yard, the animals that frolic in it can become your responsibility. While all emergency vets see the "worst of the worst" in terms of caseload – dogs hit by cars, cats being strangled by fishing line - in Anchorage, Alaska, the stakes are the same, but the patients are very different. In addition to the usual family pets, emergency vets at Pet Emergency Treatment (P.E.T.) treat baby moose, sea otters, eagles, porcupines, seals, mink, beavers and even the occasional bear.

P.E.T. is a 24-hour emergency center for all creatures wild and domestic. Because most of the state is only accessible by air, animals are flown in to P.E.T. from villages all over Alaska to receive state-of-the-art medical and surgical care. Although they generally treat small domestic pets, sometimes good samaritans will bring in a wild case that requires immediate attention, such as a darted bear with the tranquilizer dart still lodged in its hipbone. "We had to work very fast," remembers vet tech Laura Kelly, "to get the dart cut out before the bear woke up."

Every winter the clinic is full of Bohemian Waxwings. These beautiful little birds eat their fill of the fermented berries of the ash berry tree, become drunk, fly into people's windows, and then get brought to P.E.T. Most of them are no worse for wear (just intoxicated). So they are fed, kept in a "drunk tank" and released in the morning.

In Alaska, even average domestic animals can end up in some incredible situations. The staff at P.E.T. see the same dogs come in, again and again, covered in porcupine quills (they don't learn); cats and dogs with fishhooks in their mouths, lips, feet, and ears; animals attacked by coyotes, moose, and bears; pets hit by boats, trains, and the occasional airplane crash victim (one out of every 17 Alaskans has a pilot's license).

In an average evening, there will be several wound surgeries, and maybe a major surgery such as removal of a foreign body (an animal that ate a rock, sock or clothing), C-section or bleeding internal tumor. They also see many dogs bloat around midnight – a serious condition that requires immediate surgery or death will result.

"Clinically Wild" is a half-hour docu-soap about the staff and animals at a 24-hour emergency pet clinic in the wildest part of the United States. More than "just" dramatic stories of life and death, each episode is a week in the life of a ragtag bunch of fierce individualists who found themselves in Alaska … and then stayed because they became a family. (Source: http://animal.discovery.com/tv/clinically-wild/about.html)