The Slice from PBS North.

If you've ever wondered how we take care of the carnivores at the Lake Superior Zoo for their vet care, I'm keeper Micayla.

And today we're going to be doing a blood draw voluntarily with our snow leopard, Kiran.

He is part of a species survival plan.

We don't breed here, but he is part of a genetic population of animals in AZA facilities.

So that if we ever needed to reintroduce them into the wild, we have healthy genetics.

He just turned 15.

He's been at the zoo for over a decade, and that officially makes him a geriatric cat.

So we are really concerned about keeping his quality of care high.

And that means a lot of different voluntary behaviors, as much as we can without sedating him Kiran, can you come over here?

Target.

Good, good, Recently I trained him how to do a voluntary blood draw.

We take blood out of the tail for the animal.

So my counterpart, keeper, Jess.

She is going to be pulling the tail through with a snake hook and a tweezers, and then practicing shaving the tail, And then she's going to practice poking and taking the actual blood.

So she's going to do a long duration poke on his tail.

I'm gonna shave again.

While Jess is doing all of the different procedures, I am going to be giving him some food just to make sure that he is still happy and that he is getting rewarded for allowing us to do, things that are not quite pleasant all the time.

I love Kiran with all my heart.

I don't know if the feelings are returned.

But he is my favorite cat at the zoo, so being able to keep him happy and healthy is probably the highlight of my job.

The Slice, from PBS North.