BLOOMINGTON - Wednesdays are not the usual parade of dogs and cats for Dr. Jeanette Romanowski, a veterinarian at Prairie Oaks Veterinary Center in Normal. | Video: Inside the exam room | More on Miller Park Zoo's Zoo-Do fundraiser

Every mid-week, she travels to Miller Park Zoo, where her patients range from tigers and sun bears to exotic birds like kookaburras, a species of large kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea.

With help from technicians from Prairie Oaks like Linda Sax, Romanowski cares for more than 200 different animals and species housed at the Bloomington facility on contract with the city.

"It's amazing and challenging and awesome," she said. "It gets you out of the routine. Every day is different."

The job is easier since a new animal hospital opened recently on the zoo grounds. As a result, animals, including many rare and endangered species, can stay near their exhibits for routine exams and treatments and avoid the danger inherent in moving them to Prairie Oaks and back.

"It's safer for the animals. We don't have to transport," Romanowski said.

"It's been a long time coming," added John Tobias, director at the zoo, where visits are running ahead of last year's pace when about 100,000 passed through the gates.

Romanowski spoke as she prepared to give an annual physical to a red panda, an endangered species native to India, China and Nepal. Named Velcro, he is one of two brothers born at the zoo in July 2006 after their already-pregnant mother arrived. Mom moved on, but Velcro and Firecracker stayed.

Velcro is a furry raccoon-like animal with a red upper body, a black underside and sharp claws to live in trees and eat bamboo. He was sedated, given anesthesia, poked, prodded, massaged, examined head to feet, manicured, revived and allowed to awake in a darkened recovery room.

Initial results looked good. Blood was drawn and ear wax collected for a closer look at a laboratory later on.

Tobias said the zoo has asked the International Union of Conservation of Nature for approval as a breeding facility for red pandas. If the request is granted, a donation already has been received to modify the red panda exhibit as required.

The free-standing veterinary building is the result of Operation Roar, a fundraising effort for capital projects at the zoo. Phase I resulted in the $400,010 needed for the 90- by 40-foot hospital located near the sea lion exhibit and rain forest on the southwest corner of the grounds. Phase II kicks off with Zoo-Do on Sept. 6. The evening at the zoo will include presentations by zoo staff, refreshments, food and an auction to raise $50,000 for a breeding exhibit for rare Sumatran tigers.

The centerpiece of the animal hospital is an examination/surgery room where visitors can watch Romanowski work on animals through a viewing window. A gaseous center - that clouds when a light is turned on - lets her close the viewing area to the public if she thinks the scene might be too graphic for young visitors. The building also houses a recovery room, quarantine rooms and a shower room for zoo keepers so they don't carry infections into or away from the zoo. Storage rooms and a break room are available.

Though a great step forward, Romanowski and Sax said the hospital still needs cabinets installed; donated surgical and dental supplies; and sterile towels, among other items.

"We're on a budget," Romanowski said.

The facility also lacks x-ray equipment, so a barred owl recovering from a serious wound to its wing was due to make the trip to Prairie Oaks after Romanowski saw several other patients on her rounds. They included a kookaburra with a wound, two short-tail opossums recovering from a skin problem and a Western tufted deer with good news - its recent test for tuberculosis was negative.

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Zoo-Do

What: A fundraiser for Miller Park Zoo, which hopes to become a breeding site for rare Sumatran tigers

When: 6-10 p.m. Sept. 6

Where: Miller Park Zoo, 1012 S. Morris Ave., Bloomington

Events: Talks about animals, food, refreshments, auction

Tickets: $60. Phone (309) 862-0007.

On the Net:

www.pantagraph.com/zoogala