Dublin Zoo's Meath vets lean on their teamwork for conservation and well-being of over 400 animals

"So much of our time is spent on prevention rather than treatment.”

At Dublin Zoo, a Meath team composed of Frank O’Sullivan, Niamh McGill, and Emma Flynn have welfare and conservation at the forefront of their minds, as they care for the health and wellbeing of over 400 animals, from elephants to ants.

Frank, who grew up in Walterstown and now residing in Kiltale, Niamh, from Ashbourne, and Navan’s Emma make up a close-knit team in the Phoenix Park, where their love for the huge number of species at the zoo couldn’t be clearer.

Although the occupation of a vet will automatically make people think of animal healthcare and aiding injuries, these are just some of the many responsibilities the Royal County professionals at Dublin Zoo have.

Preventative care, conservation, and bio-security are all equally important for the Meath vets, and they were able to walk the Meath Chronicle through their efforts at Dublin Zoo.

“We take care of over 400 animals here, ranging from dart frogs up to elephants,” said Niamh. “Our main role is really their health, and preventative care. So much of our time is spent on prevention rather than treatment.”

However, the Meath vets must remain vigilant on a daily basis, as there is never any predicting what can occur on any given day. From health checks to vaccinations, each day working behind the scenes at the zoo can look vastly different.

“We look at their vaccines, we are constantly doing surveillance of their health, their diet, their nutrition, all the rest of it,” Niamh said. “On a day-to-day basis, you're going to get things that come up; kinds of injuries, kinds of sicknesses.”

Although the trio have an obvious sense of camaraderie with one another, there was no minced words when they described the importance the zookeepers had in terms of the wellbeing of the animals.

Meath man Frank said, “We’re only one part of a wider animal care team. We work very closely with them; zookeepers and curators… Zookeepers are aware of their dietary plans that can mimic what they’d get in the wild. It’s amazing how different those requirements are.”

Niamh added to the comments by saying, “You could get a call from the zookeepers that something minor has happened. The animal might not have finished its meal, and they know that’s a cause for concern.

“Even if we go back a few years, we got a call that an elephant had laid down in an abnormal position for a few minutes. That was the start of the story of the elephants with the Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV).”

The assistance of the zookeepers also comes into play when it comes to treatment of the animals. The vets explained that when they performed the world’s first cataract surgery on a hippopotamus, Imani, in 2025, that it was a joint effort with the zookeepers.

“They came in every four hours for a month after she had that surgery to put eyedrops into her eye, and Imani allowed them,” Niamh said.

Prior to the surgery however, there was a huge series of planning and consultation done by the Meath vets and their colleagues to be able to pull off the incredible procedure. “There was basically nine or ten months of planning, a lot of consultation with experts, and an enormous team on the day.”

Although Niamh, Frank, and Emma are more than capable of juggling the care of hundreds of animals when an incident or illness occurs, they devote a huge amount of effort into preventing these issues before they even begin.

“We do everything we can to keep them healthy,” Niamh pointed out. However, this process starts before animals even enter the zoo, and is a constant consideration when it comes to bros-security.

Niamh said, “We’ve got a huge role in bio-security,” before Frank added, “There could be things like blue tongue virus, or God forbid, even foot and mouth in the region,” as the vets clearly outlined the importance of ensuring the 28-hectare space remains safe for the animals.

“We’re basically maintaining the bio-security of the zoo all of the time,” mentioned Niamh. “We have to make sure we don’t bring anything in.”

The process of bringing an animal into the zoo is far from straightforward, as the vets must make significant considerations for a new addition.

Emma said, “They're coming in mostly from other zoos and other connections, animals under other care. So there is an element of, ‘we know where they're coming from’, but always, potential diseases need a lot of thought.”

Frank then followed her comments by saying, “If you brought even a frog or an amphibian that came from a different part of the world. Maybe it had a virus that was causing no symptoms in that particular animal. Then, it met up with our collection that had never been exposed to this. It could rapidly spread through them. So that's an important role that we'd have in doing those quarantine checks before, during, and after the move and before integrating with them.”

He then pointed out that those working in the agricultural industry also share the burdens of diseases when they sweep across the continent.

“Diseases move across boundaries. They're transboundary - they don't respect boundaries. I mean, the latest bluetongue virus that's causing so much havoc on farms, started in northern Africa through midges, to southern Europe, up to northern Europe, devastated Holland and France and all that. Next thing, the midge brought the virus across the English Channel.

"Then, from there, it crossed over to us. This is the first year we've had cases of bluetongue virus in Ireland. Many of the farmers now were vaccinating for that.”

As for the animals at Dublin Zoo, many of them are in short supply in terms of their species, and any negligence to care would carry major jeopardy. However, the Meath vets in Dublin understand what they are working with.

“The animals at the zoo, there are very small numbers of them left in the world,” Frank explained. “Many of them are either endangered or critically endangered. You could see animals that are extinct in the wild, there might only be 200 of them left.”

Niamh added to Frank’s comments by saying, “Zoos are playing a part in education and in fundraising, but also in breeding. They’re ensuring that the animals living in zoos, that they’re breeding them and maintaining populations outside of the wild.

“We make sure that they're in optimal health for breeding and how to get them breeding. And then, at the same time, if there is a point whereby we need to stop it for a while, that's our responsibility as well.”

Reintegration is also something that is done for some of the animals at Dublin Zoo, as they are planning to send some of their Ibis to Spain in the coming weeks. “The breeding policy is a good example with the Ibis, together with some other species where animals would be released back to the wild to support the native population,” said Frank.

Emma then pointed out that animals living at Dublin Zoo have a huge role in terms of their kind across the globe. “The individual animal, it's an ambassador for its whole entire species. So we might have one okapi or four elephants, but they represent an entire species outside of the zoo.

“It starts that conversation. ‘Where do they come from? What's their natural habitat? What's happening there? What are we doing to help?’ It helps the public understand, as well as aspects like deforestation, agriculture, things like that can have huge impacts on some of these species.”

Despite their being major responsibility on the backs of the animal healthcare team at Dublin Zoo, there is an obvious sense of passion and genuine love for their work, as the collective goal of conservation and preservation is nothing short of vital for the Royal County professionals.