Dr. Susan Mikota, Renown Elephant Vet Speaks at Potter Park Zoo

Potter Park Zoo will host guest speaker Dr. Susan Mikota, co-editor of Biology, Medicine, and Surgery of Elephants and co-founder and Director of Veterinary Programs and Research of Elephant Care International at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 in the zoo’s Safari Room. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Elephant Care International is an organization dedicated exclusively to elephant healthcare. Mikota’s presentation, “The Asian Elephant -Care and Concern, Experiences from the Field,” will focus on her observations and images from years of living and working with the elephants of Asia. She will cover topics ranging from: why this cultural icon is revered as a God and feared as a killer of man and destroyer of crops, to the serious disease concerns for elephants in both the United States and Asia. Attendees will also be treated to a fascinating array of images from Cambodia, Sumatra, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

In addition to her work at Elephant Care International, Mikota is also a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group. She created and maintains the world's largest elephant bibliographic database on elephant healthcare and has published the first elephant formulary with Donald C. Plumb, Pharm D.  Dr. Mikota was also a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work with Sumatran elephants.

Donations toward Elephant Care International or Potter Park Zoological Society will be accepted at the presentation. Those who would like to make an advance donation can contact Potter Park‘s Zoological Society at (517) 702-4730 for more information.

Potter Park Zoo is located at 1301 S. Pennsylvania Ave. within Potter Park along the Red Cedar River in Lansing, Michigan. The zoo is open daily year-round, summer hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 517.483.4221 or visit www.potterparkzoo.org