Today we’d like to introduce you to Douglas Mader.
Hi Douglas, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I’ve always loved animals. I was born in the Florida Keys and grew up exploring the Mangrove swamps with my older brother. I knew at a very young age that animals would always be a part of my life. Uncle Sam sent my father to Viet Nam and our family followed him to his military station in Hawaii while he was away. We stayed there even after my father retired from the service.
Hawaii was a mecca if you liked exotic birds. But, there was a dearth of herpetofauna. There were a few species of native lizards and amphibians. There were no endemic turtles (except for sea turtles) and only one species of snake – the Hawaiian Blind Snake. It is a fossorial species and the vast majority of Hawaiians have never seen one, much less even know they even exist.
I was lucky to find one when I was in high school. I told my Biology teacher what I saw and he was quick to label me “lolo.” Hawaiian for crazy. Having grown up traipsing through the Florida mangroves, reptiles were my passion. If I stayed in Hawaii the opportunities to work with exotic animals like reptiles were extremely limited. I knew I had to leave the 50th state.
Eventually, I moved to California and attended the University of California, Davis, and received my Veterinary Degree. While in veterinary school I worked on the research team that discovered Simian Aids, the model for Human Aids. Because of my involvement with that team, I was asked to stay on and obtained a Residency degree in Primate Medicine and Surgery.
When I finished my residency training I was offered several jobs from California to New York to Africa. I ended up owning a veterinary hospital in the Los Angeles Area. After nine years I was tired of the big city and decided to make a life change. My wife, also a veterinarian, and I moved back to the Florida Keys where everything started and we opened a 24/7 specialty/referral hospital.
Over the next 25 years, I furthered my desire for professional excellence and became boarded by the ABVP in Canine and Feline Practice, Reptile and Amphibian practice, and also the European College of Zoological Medicine (Herpetology).
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life always throws obstacles at you. It is not about getting knocked down, but, getting back up and moving forward. You use the challenges to make yourself better. Life in California had earthquakes, fires, and social unrest, especially when I was living there in the early ’90s. Florida has hurricanes – I’ve lost two houses in the 3 decades of living in the Keys.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I owned the largest veterinary hospital in the Florida Keys for 25 years. We were 10 full-time docs and 24 hours a day, specialty referral hospital. I sold it two years ago, now running my new company, Tropical Veterinary Services, with my wife, who is also a veterinarian.
We specialize in exotic animal and wildlife medicine now- only servicing zoos, aquariums, theme parks, and alligator farms and working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to help with the Key Deer and other indigenous animals in the Keys.
What makes you happy?
After 40 years of working in veterinary medicine, I still love what I do. Helping promote the Human-Animal Bond, whether it is a young child with their kitten, a cowboy with their horse, or simple people enjoying wildlife, if I can prolong that bond, that is what makes me happy.
I’ve just published my first book for the mainstream audience: The Vet at Noah’s Ark – Stories of Survival from an Inner City Animal Hospital. This is a true story of my career while living in the Los Angeles Area during very difficult times. The engaging narrative is about celebrating the Human-Animal bond, even in the face of social unrest and challenging situations. The book, which made the N. Y. Post “Required Reading” list, is available at any online bookseller or through my website (www.dougmader.com)
Contact Info:
- Website:www.dougmader.com
- Instagram: @dmaderdvm
- Facebook: @douglas.mader.9
- Other: @VetatNoahsArk
Image Credits
Chris Gilette
