Dr. Gregory Rich is well-known as the local go-to veterinarian for the care and treatment of avian and exotic pets in the Greater New Orleans region and surrounding areas. He graduated from LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in 1985, and worked in a small animal practice for 8 years before opening Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital of Louisiana in May of 1993. Over the years, he has owned and successfully bred hedgehogs, Moustache Parrots, and Hawkhead Parrots. He and his wife have been the proud owners of 2 marvelous Australian Shepherds, Shayna and Dolly, that have been in charge of greeting clients and retrieving charts at the clinic.
Dr. Rich is the proud recipient of the 2011 Oxbow Exotic Mammal Health Award amongst numerous others.
Dr. Leslie Pence has been first an intern and then an associate veterinarian at Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital of Louisiana ever since her graduation from the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in 2009. She has dreamed of being a veterinarian ever since she was 4 and brought her stuffed rabbit ("Gerber") to be stitched up at a school fair. Since then she has been strongly involved in the animal field by doing everything from kennel work at local animal shelters, being a foster parent for a cockatiel bird rescue, studying parasites in Thailand, helping set up animal shelters after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, rehabilitating injured hawks and owls through LSU's raptor program, and helping rescue oiled pelicans after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She continues her love of wildlife and exotic animals through her daily work with the fantastic staff and clients of WEVC.
She graduated from Mississippi State University in 2005 with a degree in Wildlife Management. She continues working with wildlife frequently through the injured animals brought to the hospital, as well as lecturing annually for the Wildlife Rehabilitator Basic Skills Class.
She is a member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians, the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians, the American Ferret Association, and is very involved in several local rabbit and ferret rescue groups. She enjoys going home every evening to her cattle dog mix "Roxie", a Flemish Giant rabbit "Titus", an African Gray parrot "Chipper", a cockatiel "Voodoo", a guinea pig "Toby-Sniffer", an axolotyl "Rex", numerous tropical fish, and a loving husband Michael. In her limited spare time she enjoys reading, playing piano, spending time with family, watching movies, and travelling to foreign lands.
© 2024 PoultryDVM All Rights Reserved.