This is an example of one of the procedures we do fairly regularly at NEWC, tracheal intubation. We use this when we need an animal to be unconscious, for example if we are going to be performing surgery. In this case, we were doing a wound debridement on a red tailed hawk’s foot, which means that we were cleaning out a dirty wound. Tracheal intubation involves feeding a clean, plastic tube down the animal’s trachea. Oxygen and Isoflurane, our surgical anesthetic, are then supplied down the tube and shot almost directly to the animal’s lungs. This ensures that the animal has a steady flow of oxygen during the procedure, as well as a specific and controlled amount of anesthetic, and prevents anything from clogging their airway.