Veterinary graduate students and faculty got a chance for hands-on experience working with exotic animals Tuesday when two zebras came to visit.

The two young male zebras, named Kenya and ZigZag, came from a privately owned zoo in western Washington and were brought in for castration and hoof trimming.

“It’s just really exciting that we have species that we don’t work with routinely,” said Lisa Pearson, graduate veterinary assistant at the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Pearson said the zebras were being castrated for behavioral reasons, as zebras become more aggressive as they sexually mature.

Pearson, a theriogenologist (veterinarian practice in reproductive medicine and surgery), said the college will be taking the zebras’ sperm for genetic preservation.

“It’s important that we use these advanced reproductive techniques to preserve them,” Pearson said.

The owners came to the WSU veterinary hospital because of the expertise available there and because of the value of the exotic species, said Charlie Powell, public information officer for the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Students had the opportunity to watch the castration procedures while others, including student Alicia Ewing, performed them and other preparations such as applying catheters.

“You have to make the opportunity for the students, for them to handle this tissue,” professor of veterinary medicine Ahmed Tibary said.

Because zebras are wildlife animals that are not typically castrated, the veterinarians were not going by any standard procedure, Tibary said.

“Almost everything you do with wildlife is experimental,” he said. “That’s a really huge limitation we have.”

Powell said the hospital services about 15,000 animals a year.

“In my 25 years I’ve seen all sorts of animals come through here,” Powell said.

While WSU does not usually get zebras coming through its veterinary hospital, for some students like Ewing, it’s just another day on the job.

“It’s a new experience, but for me, I just look at it like animals are animals,” Ewing said.