Honey Bees

Sustainability and One Health

As part of a new sustainability committee I co-founded at LSU Vet Med named Sustainability Advocates and Veterinary Environmentalists (SAVE), I brought the first ever Italian Honey Bee colony to LSU Vet Med. I founded the Student Chapter of the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium (SHBVC) where I served as the president. It is my goal to introduce honey bee medicine to veterinary students and bee keepers through lectures with qualified guest speakers, wetlabs, and exciting experiences! Honeybee medicine is growing in veterinary medicine with the FDA's new veterinary feed directive that requires veterinarians to treat antimicrobial diseases that infect apiaries.

Installing my first hive!

I installed the apiary in May of 2022 with Southern Italian Honeybees! It is incredible, MannLake ships 15,000 bees in this tiny box!

First Hive Inspection

I am trying to learn as many husbandry items for colonies as I can. It is important for veterinarians/bee-keepers to be able to identify potential issues. An ounce of prevention creates a pound of cure!

Our Gear!

The SHBVC's mentor, Dr. Mark Mitchell, helped purchase wonderful keeping gear for us! These include:

Three suits with helmets + gloves
A smoker
Two nukes
Two supers
Two sugar water feeders
Hive tools
Fume board

Close up photos of the bees and capped honey!

Looking for any larvae within the frames!

Healthy, fertile queens should be laying constantly, nearly every day! Finding evidence of eggs or larvae is one positive sign for a healthy colony. The queen will crawl between the frames and carefully inspect each cell before laying.

Find the photobomber!

Some friends I took out!

Sustainability Advocates and Veterinary Environmentalists (S.A.V.E.)

The Sustainability Advocates and Veterinary Environmentalists (S.A.V.E.) committee is school-wide endeavor I co-founded. We are comprised of two faculty, two staff, three DVM students, and one PhD graduate student. The S.A.V.E. Committee pledges to establish and consistently maintain a professional and academic community upheld by sustainable environmental practices. Our role is to provide awareness and continuing education throughout the region, and to reduce our carbon footprint here at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine (LSU Vet Med). Students can directly be involved by joining one or several of the working groups we established. The working groups are shown below!

Sustainability Advocates and Veterinary Environmentalists

Recycling and Thrifting

Collecting various forms plastics and having appropriate location for making recycling/reusing more accessible at LSU Vet Med. Through a recycling program with NexTrex, LSU Vet Med has collected thousands of plastic film. We also have a newspaper collection bin that is donated to the Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana. We are also providing opportunities to recycle and reuse unwanted clothing and items through school-wide thrifting events.

Food Waste and Composting

Reducing food waste here at LSU Vet Med by creating a composting program with Fluker’s Farms and by working together with the café at LSU Vet Med. The composting program will be combined with a black solider fly larvae program I have established. I will utilize the food waste collected at the LSU Vet Med and feed it to black solider flies. These flies will produce larvae which I will then feed to the patients in the Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana.

Outreach and Advocacy

Arguably one of the most important working groups in S.A.V.E.. The outreach and advocacy working groups focuses on advertising through social media, education, and spreading awareness to the community about why sustainability matters and how it is possible to incorporate it into your lifestyle.

Black soldier fly larvae crawl out of the compost bin when they grow! We will collect the larvae and help sustainably feed our patients!

Another SAVE member and I giving away aloe plants at LSU Vet Med's Family Picnic in 2022! We gave away 75 plants to students, faculty, staff, and families!

Newsletter I designed!

Raptors

I served as a Raptor Co-Chair part of the Raptor Rehabilitation program during my time at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine (LSU Vet Med). Raptor Rehabilitation is part of the Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana (WHL) where we rehabilitate birds of prey after being treated by the WHL. Co-Chairs are veterinary student volunteers and commit two years to the position. We spend a lot of time with incredible birds like Red-Tailed Hawks, Barred Owls, Great Horned Owls, Bald Eagles, Mississippi Kites, and so much more. Being a co-chair introduced my extreme passion for wildlife medicine. During my time in the Raptor Rehabilitation program, I helped enhance our social media presence and served as one of the Public Outreach co-chairs. At the end of my term, I helped increase our traffic flow on our Facebook page by 30,000% by posting educational and interactive posts consistently with the local community.

Photoshoot with Waffle!

Waffle is a Barred Owl and is a resident raptor at LSU Vet Med. As part of an initiative I helped create to get the Co-Chairs on the LSU Vet Med website, all the co-chairs took professional photos with their favorite birds!

Raptors on the LSU Vet Med Website!

Sheldon the Great Horned Owl!

I am presenting Sheldon, who is a Great Horned Owl and a raptor resident at LSU Vet Med. Co-Chairs often get invited to schools, children organizations, LSU and community events to educate the public on wildlife conservation an the Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana's Raptor Rehabilitation program!

Bruce the Red-Tailed Hawk!

I am here presenting Bruce, one of our Red-Tailed Hawk raptor residents! Raptor Rehabilitation was invited to participate in Lousiana’s Hunting and Fishing Day in Baton Rouge at the Waddill Outdoor Education Center. Bruce, Waffle, Walter, and Sheldon joined our co-chairs for an exciting day celebrating the natural beauty and amazing outdoor recreational opportunities Louisiana has to offer.

Bald Eagle Release!

I am fortunate and proud to say I have participated in many releases during my time as a co-chair. The end goal of treating wildlife is to release them back into the wild. It is a feeling like no other to witness months of treatment and hard work pay off to end with a successful release!

2-year timelapse of my time as a Raptor Co-Chair!

It’s fairly incredible how quick the time really goes, and honestly how much can happen within just two years. It can definitely be said my time spent with the Raptor Rehabilitation program has been the absolute highlight of all my veterinary experiences; at the very least, it introduced me to the field of avian medicine, which I undoubtedly fell in love with. These raptors have taught me some of the basic foundations of what it means to be a medical professional and pioneer in wildlife medicine- incorporating trust, patience, compassion, and a continuous flow of education into my practice of medicine. Raptor rehab opened many doors of opportunities and allowed me to connect and learn from the brilliant leaders in this field. It also began my passion for clinical research, which I am currently conducting and have had very exciting results. Most importantly, raptor rehab has taught me to always follow your passions, no matter who or what may stand in your way! This is just the beginning and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.

Norman the Barred Owl!

For LSU Vet Med's virtual open house in 2021, I had the honor to teach the community about our resident raptor, Norman! Norman has been released back into the wild and we are optimistic he is thriving!

Releasing a Barred Owl!

My favorite part of the release is watching how incredible they fly away! In the video you can see a beautiful lift as the Barred Owl finds a nice perch in their new home!

Releasing a Red-Shouldered Hawk!

Releases are a team effort and would not be possible without all the amazing help from all of the co-chairs!