Local veterinarian enjoys the challenges of non-pet patients

About three-and-a-half decades ago, a Wildlife Rescue Service volunteer visited a Birmingham veterinary clinic to ask if any of the three veterinarians there were interested in helping her organization take care of injured wild animals.

“The other two vets weren’t interested, but I was,” said Dr. Carl Grimmett, fresh out of school and eager to expand his veterinary horizons. “So they began bringing animals to me for treatment.”

Now known as the Alabama Wildlife Center, the service seeks to provide medical and rehabilitative care for injured and orphaned birds and to educate people about Alabama’s native wildlife. Founded in 1977 as a small, home-based organization, it is now the state’s oldest and largest such service, annually caring for over 2,000 wild bird patients from over 100 species.

Since agreeing to become involved with the service, Grimmett, owner of Grayson Valley Pet Clinic, has treated eagles, hawks, owls, geese, ducks, crows, vultures and herons, as well as some squirrels, raccoons, deer, opossums and rabbits.

Almost all the injuries he sees are caused by cars or bullets, with more gunshot injuries occurring in the fall and winter when hunting season begins. In the spring and summer, he sees a greater number of baby animals with injuries, some that are abandoned or have had their nests destroyed.

Then there are the more unusual cases.

“A few years ago, a female black bear was hit by a truck in the Jasper area. She suffered a broken hind leg, a mid-femoral fracture and was transported to the zoo for confinement,” Grimmett recalled. “The zoo vet helped with the anesthesia, and I pinned the fracture.”

Lacking a surgical pin large enough for a bear, he improvised by using three pins in a stack-pin method. The technique obviously worked, as the bear soon recovered and was later released.

But there are also the sad cases, like a recent one concerning a baby owl brought into the clinic with two broken legs and a broken wing.

“The tree where his nest was located had been cut down,” Grimmett explained. “The baby was injured on impact with the ground, but he looked healthy except for the broken limbs.”

As it turned out, though, the owl’s internal injuries were too extensive to heal correctly, and Grimmett reluctantly put the little creature to sleep.

Though he enjoys the challenges associated with treating wild animals, Grimmett actually prefers treating pets.

“The wild animals are less cooperative many times they have to be sedated. Most domestic animals will allow much more treatment and handling.”

When asked what made him want to become a veterinarian in the first place, Grimmett grows confessional.

“To answer that question, I’ll have to tell on myself,” he said. “I used to do some hunting.” 

One hunting day, sightings were few, and as a 14-year-old boy with a shotgun, Grimmett was eager to shoot something. So when a crow flew overhead, the youngster took a wild shot, not really expecting any results. He was surprised when the bird fell from the sky. 

“When the crow got to the ground, he began to run,” Grimmett recalled. “I chased him down and considered finishing him off, but I couldn’t. I took him home instead. My mother was a nurse, so I asked her if there was anything I could do for a broken wing. She helped me create a makeshift bandage.”

Grimmett continued to care for the bird for a couple of months before releasing it and found the whole experience to be an exciting and rewarding one. When his mother asked if he’d ever considered becoming a veterinarian, the idea struck a chord.

“It was my first thought of doing this kind of work, and the crow was my first patient,” he said.

Grimmett believes that initial success probably accounts for his eagerness to help when approached by the Wildlife Rescue Service volunteer. And it certainly accounts for his choice to put the shotgun away.

“I don’t hunt any longer,” he said. “I find it more exciting to help wild animals instead of shooting them.”