Norristown’s Elmwood Park Zoo is ensuring the wellbeing of its animals through a collaboration of vets, doctors and dentists, writes Mari A. Schaefer for Philly.com.

When Joannie, a Chacoan Peccary living at the Zoo, was diagnosed with mammary cancer, Elmwood’s veterinarian Adam G. Denish turned both to veterinary and medical oncologists for help.

“If we have a problem that is similar to a problem human’s see, we consult human doctors,” he said.

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However, the zoo then had to find the right medication that would work on a patient that was less than cooperative. As the pig-like mammals are known to be aggressive, injectable drugs were ruled out as were pills.

However, thanks to this new collaboration, they found the solution by creating a chemotherapy cocktail that could be hidden in chunks of banana or disguised by peanut butter. This seemingly unusual teamwork has also helped treat two squirrel monkeys suffering from diabetes.

But, according to Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, a cardiologist and coauthor of ‘Zoobiquity’ which examines the similarity between animals and humans, “there is payoff to human health practitioners that comes from knowing about naturally occurring diseases that spontaneously occur in animals.”

Read more about Adam Denish’s work at Philly.com by clicking here.

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