Thirteen St. Louis youth will be in Forest Park on June 13 tracking box turtles, fitted with telemetry devices--all to help with a project aimed at studying box turtle movements and their health.

The 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds are participating in a pilot study designed by scientists from the Saint Louis Zoo and Washington University in St. Louis to document box turtle movements and their health status in urban and rural areas in and around St. Louis.  This study comes at a critical time as previous studies conducted across the globe show that many populations of turtles are being threatened by vehicles, habitat loss, and disease. However, the conservation status of box turtles in Missouri is not well-understood.

Doctor Pamela Clary is a mobile veterinarian. She will come to your house and take care of all your pet's needs in the comfort of your own home.

She started making house calls because a large percentage of pets were so scared it was impossible to properly check up on them.  When she treated the animals at their owner's home, the pets were relaxed and she could do her job.

For Quniel and Jessica Perez, their dog Maybelle was always frightened when visiting the vet.  When the family had to make the difficult decision to put their beloved pet down, they wanted to do it as peacefully as possible.

The idea of at-home pet euthanasia is becoming more popular.  For this family, they didn't want Maybelle's last moments to be a one-way torture trip to the veterinarian’s office.  

Pet euthanasia has become a family ceremony for some, a personal expression of love and loss for a family member that must leave too soon.