Saving Species, CSI Style

Dr. Alene Pohly’s fascination with solving a good mystery may stem from her teenage obsession with “Bones,” the fi ctional television series based on a forensic anthropologist solving crimes for the FBI.

“It was a favorite show and now I fi nd myself in pathology on the disease investigations team doing necropsies all the time!” said Pohly, who recently completed a three-year residency training program from UC Davis in Zoo and Wildlife Anatomic Pathology.

 While growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida, Pohly’s initial academic interest in high school was zoology. Then she became involved in a pre-vet program where she got experience in small and large animal veterinary medicine. She was hooked.

At Florida State University, Pohly continued participating in a pre-vet club to get further hands-on experience while obtaining her B.S. in Biological Sciences. She knew she wanted to stay in the zoo world, so she began applying to veterinary schools with a heavy wildlife focus and ended up attending Tufts University in Massachusetts for her DVM training.

“I learned that I wasn’t that excited about clinical medicine,” Pohly said. “So, I loitered around the pathology program until they invited me to observe on the necropsy floor.”

During her fourth year at Tufts in 2022, Pohly landed a four-week externship at the San Diego Zoo.

“That’s where I knew I had found the right fit,” Pohly said. “I could contribute to conservation eff orts and help save species, not through actively treating animals, but on the back end, conducting diagnostics and getting to the root of a health problem.”

Pohly applied to residency programs with a strong wildlife focus and was accepted to UC Davis, where the School of Veterinary Medicine and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) have a joint residency program in veterinary pathology designed to prepare candidates for careers in academia, zoological parks and aquaria, conservation organizations, or wildlife agencies.

Residents entering the program complete two years of concentrated anatomic pathology training in Davis, where the veterinary hospital provides a diverse caseload that consists of approximately 85% domestic animals and 15% zoo and wildlife animals, pet birds and other exotic pets. All aspects of case evaluation (gross necropsy, histopathology evaluation, and pathology reporting) are guided and reviewed by twelve board-certifi ed pathologists.

The third year is spent at the San Diego Zoo with the Disease Investigations team. Since the residency’s inception in 2000, 25 veterinarians have benefi ted from this specialized advanced training and now hold prestigious positions around the world.

“The most satisfying aspect of this residency has been collaborating with an amazing team of pathologists. I learn something from them constantly,” Pohly said. “Pathology is often a forgotten part of veterinary medicine. When the animals in our care die, we need to know why. These are wild animals, but wildlife care specialists get really attached over time. Being able to provide answers and closure for them when an animal in their charge dies is a big deal for me. I don’t think of it in terms of working with dead things. We’re improving the care and future for all animals.”

When wildlife is found dead on zoo grounds, such as birds, rodents, and wild carnivores, it’s also important to know if they were carrying any infectious diseases such as avian influenza. This allows keepers to pre-emptively move zoo animals away from exposure areas or monitor them for any clinical decline.

Thanks to a collaborative partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Pohly also had the chance to work with animals from outside the zoo. For example, when beloved mountain lion P-22 was found dead, CDFW brought her body to the zoo’s facilities for necropsy. Additionally, Pohly has worked on California condors from the Los Angeles Zoo and the Peregrine Fund.

Over the course of her fi nal year of residency, Pohly worked on 262 necropsies. Once an animal is submitted for necropsy, a technician will search the Biomaterials Review Group (BRG)—an online database—to see if any tissues have been requested from outside agencies, institutions and museums so the pathologists know which tissues to collect during necropsy for research, conservation, and educational purposes. All birds have liver, lung, brain, and duodenum collected for diagnostic testing, but there may be additional sample requests depending on the species.

“The system keeps everyone updated and on the same page,” Pohly said. 

For example, when a cape buff alo died and was brought in, Pohly collected oocysts from her to freeze for possible future reproduction. She also saved eyes and trachea. Sometimes there is a request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a cosmetic necropsy where the whole animal is preserved for educational purposes. They may also request pelts, feathers or skulls. Collected tissue and DNA samples can help solve crimes and provide evidence in cases of retaliatory poisonings or human-wildlife conflict.

“As pathologists, we also serve many wildlife field programs, particularly ones that are based in southern California,” said Dr. Steven Kubiski, who completed the same residency in 2013 and his Ph.D. from UC Davis in integrative pathobiology in 2017. He now serves as an associate director of the Disease Investigations team with the SDZWA. “We receive condors from captive breeding programs, desert tortoises, burrowing owls, and assist the endangered Hawaiian forest bird program. Any time there is a mortality in any of those programs, they send the animal to us for necropsy. Because we have these numerous collaborations with outside programs, residents get exposure to some very unique species as well as the ones who live in the zoo and park.”

That varied experience has served Pohly well as she prepares for a new position as a pathologist at the Arizona Pathology Diagnostics Lab, which is associated with the local veterinary school—similar to the relationship that the California Animal Health and Food Safety laboratory system has with UC Davis. There are two zoos in the Tucson area, and she hopes to work closely with them as she grows her diagnostic expertise outside of residency. Eventually, Pohly hopes to end up back in a zoo environment. In the meantime, she continues to enjoy watching true crime documentaries with her fiancée and reading mystery books.

“I always enjoy trying to solve a case as it goes along,” she said.

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