NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — This week, the Nashville Zoo is opening their new state-of-the-art veterinary center. Furry and feathered patients are already being treated at the HCA Healthcare Veterinary Center.
"It's amazing," said Dr. Heather Robertson, Nashville Zoo Director of Veterinary Services, "We are just thrilled to be in the new space and have all this equipment."
The clinic is 24,000 square feet.
"We have that capability, now having room, to have large animal ventilation equipment, a large radiology room," she said. Dr. Robertson says they now have operating rooms capable of handling animals weighing in at two-thousand pounds.
She said before they built the clinic, they visited many other zoos, even Disney's Animal Kingdom.
"We went to Oklahoma, San Diego, Milwaukee, all over the place so we could tour zoos and see different facilities," she said.
Perhaps the most innovative new feature is the cameras above the operating table and windows, giving visitors unprecedented access to the clinic.
"So we can switch between those cameras and project that onto screens outside the viewing room," she said.
More than 200 visitors can watch what's happening behind the scenes, getting a look at routine exams, surgeries and neo-natal care.
