Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
February 9, 2001

A stitch in time

First graders from Sawyer Elementary School, Ames, were fascinated by a groundhog recuperating at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital Wildlife Care Clinic. The groundhog, suffering from injuries to the forehead and one eye, appeared at the clinic door last December. Veterinary medicine students and faculty have been caring for the animal, which required reconstructive surgery to its eyelid. The clinics goal is to return animals to the wild when they are healed. Without the protection of an eyelid, the groundhog probably would not survive in the wild. Photos by Bob Elbert.