ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - Bill Svensen has been treating animals of all shapes and sizes in northeast South Dakota since his graduation from veterinarian school in 1969.
Now, the known animal caretaker is stepping away from his practice at Animal Health Clinic.
“When we started out, I figured the practice ought to be fun, so we tried to keep it that way,” Svensen said. “I wish I could keep going, but I’m too old, my body’s wearing out, I just can’t physically do it.”
Svensen walks slowly with the use of a cane. A younger, healthier Svensen moved to Aberdeen with his family to start a new life.
After growing up on a farm in north-central Iowa, Svensen decided he wanted to devote his life to animals. He attended Iowa State for pre-vet and veterinarian school.
“(We had) cows, pigs, horses, lots of cats and there was a dog,” Svensen said of his childhood on the farm, before his family moved into town.
He came to Aberdeen after graduation, looking for a mixed practice veterinarian to join, one that cared for farm animals and pets. Svensen said his wife wanted to go back to school, so Northern State University was also part of the draw.
Svensen worked with another vet in town before starting Animal Health Clinic on the east side of town. In the 1970s, when he started up on his own, eastern Aberdeen looked a lot different. None of the retail development was there, and there were many more farms in the area, he said.
“When we moved in here, we weren’t in the city limits,” Svensen said of the clinic near Wal-Mart. “To the west of us was just corn field.”
He said he cared for livestock as well as pets through the early 1980s.
“I was getting tired of running around to farms, so I stopped doing that,” Svensen said. “It’s been basically pets from then on.”
Sometimes he treated exotic animals when they came to town with the circus, he said.
“We had to do some testing on camels and llamas and check the elephants,” Svensen said. “I treated an elephant one time. … It wasn’t a very big one, it was a small one. It had colic or belly ache from eating poor hay that they had picked up around the country. I treated it at arm’s length; it was staked down.”
Once he had to give a lion a shot for suspected pneumonia.
“Of course, the handlers, they always told you what to do and figured it out; they knew what was going on,” Svensen said. “He figured the lion had some pneumonia and needed a shot.”
The lion stayed in its cage while Svenson gave it the dose of medicine through a slot. He never heard if the lion got better after the circus left town.
Over the years, cats have proven to be Svensen’s favorite type of animal, but he doesn’t have any at home.
“I’ve had some dogs, but I got tired of walking them,” Svensen said with a chuckle.
Svensen was diagnosed with cancer, which has made it difficult for him to carry on. He has transferred the business over to Robin O’Neill. While sitting at his office desk, it was not uncommon for a cat to hop up on his lap, seeking to be petted or cuddled.
“He had a terrific love of cats,” said Carole Kiesz, president of the Aberdeen Area Humane Society board of directors. “Even when he came out when we dedicated the surgical suite to him, he couldn’t resist going and talking to the cats. He’s a real cat lover.”
Without Svensen, there likely wouldn’t be an Aberdeen Area Humane Society, Kiesz said. In 1982, when the organization was started, Svensen’s east Aberdeen office was the transitional home for many animals.
“Of course, they didn’t have anything but ideas to start with,” Svensen said of his employees who got the ball rolling on the organization. “I let them use a few cages in back for the animals.”
Even after the organization moved out to its own building, Svensen continued to care for the animals, visiting twice a week. He performed all of their spays and neuters pro-bono, Kiesz said. He would bring the animals back to the clinic for their surgeries.
“When we got involved with our new veterinarian, he suggested we do a surgical suite, so they could do (spays and neuters) right out there,” Kiesz said. “We couldn’t think of anybody better to name it after than Dr. Svensen.”
Svensen said he’d like to thank all of his clients over the years.
“I hope they continue to use the Animal Health Clinic after I’m not around,” Svensen said.
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Information from: Aberdeen American News, https://www.aberdeennews.com
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