Anuket, a 341-pound Nile crocodile, willingly strayed from her diet when she hungrily gobbled up a size six running shoe in December.
The sneaker had fallen from a zipline and into Anuket’s habitat in St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. The crocodile was seen eating the shoe and later regurgitating the shoe only to give it another go and eat it again.
Anuket was monitored by University of Florida Veterinary Hospitals staff for a time after her shoe snack. But after she began showing abnormal behaviors, including lethargy and loss of appetite, the team, led by UF Health large animal surgeon Dr. Adam Biedrzycki, decided to pursue removing the shoe.
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Correction: This article has been updated with the correct operating hours for the clinic.
UrgentVet, the area’s first acute pet care center, opened in Butler North at 2680 Clark Butler Blvd. on Monday to serve its first pawed patients.
The center’s aim is to fill the widening care gap that exists between traditional veterinary practices and specialized 24-hour emergency hospitals, said founder Dr. Jim Dobies, who was a general practice vet for 17 years.
“We noticed over a period of time that urgent care did not really exist for pets,” he said.
Dobies said some of the most common ailments for pets, such as vomiting and diarrhea or lameness and limping shouldn’t necessarily require that owners go to their normal vet or a specialty center after hours.