Visitors to a New Jersey zoo get to watch veterinarians treat the animals

WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — Forget the giraffes, gibbons and leopards. About a dozen visitors at the Turtle Back Zoo gathered one recent morning around the most unusual sight of all.

It was a small, light-brown tortoise getting a veterinary checkup.

Over the next half-hour, spectators watched through a plate-glass window as the young sulcata tortoise — an endangered species also known as the African spurred tortoise — underwent measurements, X-rays, a blood draw, microchipping and more.

Inside the northern New Jersey zoo’s spacious new, publicly visible treatment room, Dr. Kailey Anderson tucked the gel-covered wand of a Doppler machine between the top and bottom of the tortoise's shell to listen to its heart.

The nonplussed reptile pulled its head and thick-scaled front legs around the wand, trapping it in the wrong position. After Anderson coaxed the creature to relinquish the instrument, she got the chelonian equivalent of the cold shoulder when she tried to insert it again.

“You have to be really patient with tortoises,” Anderson explained. “Because if it's ‘no, thank you,’ then it’s no.”

If the experience was new for the recently arrived tortoise, it also was a novelty for the onlookers.

The Turtle Back Zoo this year joined the relatively few U.S. zoos — perhaps a dozen or fewer among the 250 accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums — that routinely give the public a view of veterinary care, said veterinarian and former accreditation commission member Dr. Scott Terrell.

“It’s a very easy way for the public to really understand and appreciate the care that these animals get,” said Terrell, who oversees animal care for Disney, where Animal Kingdom has let visitors observe veterinary care since 1998.

In an era when social media campaigns and lawsuits have questioned the well-being of captive animals, some zoos see putting vets on view as a form of transparency.

“Anytime things are out of sight, then people make up a narrative about what’s going on. I wanted to make sure, and the Nashville Zoo wanted to make sure, that people knew what was going on,” said that zoo's animal health director, Dr. Heather Schwartz. A 200-seat observation deck and cameras were built into a 2019 veterinary center renovation.

At the Oklahoma City Zoo's decade-old animal hospital, patrons have seen everything from routine exams to a gorilla's hernia repair and a bison's eye surgery, said Dr. Gretchen Cole, its veterinary services director. Visitors occasionally blanch, but Cole said she'd expected “more queasiness than we have.”

The compact, suburban Turtle Back Zoo hosts about 150 species and is recognized for its contributions to clouded leopard conservation and sea turtle rehabilitation. More whimsically, it's known for a friendship between a cheetah and Labrador retriever that had a social media moment.

Opened in 1963, the county-owned zoo was threatened with closure amid financial problems and poor attendance in the mid-1990s. A steady march of renovations and additions in the 2000s turned things around, and it now draws nearly 1 million visitors per year and is financially healthy, said longtime Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., who has presided over the rebirth.

With more animals, the zoo needed a bigger, updated veterinary hospital. Financed with state, federal and county money, the new $17 million building opened in April and lets visitors see into the room where animals get exams and some other procedures (surgeries happen off-view in a separate area).

It was a way to provide a new attraction, and “I want the kids to be able to learn what’s going on, not just to see the animals,” said DiVincenzo, a Democrat. Zoo director Jilian Fazio hopes that watching vet care also will help visitors relate to animals and get involved in conservation.

On a sunny Saturday in September, signs and announcements invited visitors to see the sulcata tortoise's exam. The animal was brought to the zoo after being found on a New Jersey street, Fazio said. The reptile's origins are unclear; sulcatas sometimes are kept as pets, though the state requires a permit for that.

Adults generally reach at least 75 pounds (34 kilograms) over time. But for now, the tortoise was compact enough for vet tech Madison Miranda to hold it up as Anderson, the veterinarian, delicately endeavored to grasp one of its legs for a blood draw.

She tried a front leg, which the reptile pulled in and huddled. Then a back leg. Then the front again. Then an area under the shell near the head. An attempt came close.

“Oh, you are so good,” Anderson soothingly told the tortoise as she prepared to try again. “A little poke. Little poke. … There we go.”

“We found the sweet spot!” the veterinarian said as she withdrew the syringe and used a tongue depressor to hold a swab to the injection site.

She would eventually need more blood and a mouth swab for additional tests, plus another go at hearing the heartbeat. But since the tortoise was quarantined as a new arrival, those procedures could wait. Anderson had seen enough to conclude that the as-yet-unnamed animal seemed healthy and was likely a female.

After an antimicrobial bath, the patient was headed back to her enclosure for a treat: strawberries.

But first, Miranda carried her to the viewing window, where 10-year-old Eleanor Wei and her mom, Shuqing Wu, lingered on the other side.

“I think it’s really cool how they just do the veterinary care,” Eleanor said. She added that she was “glad to have a real-life experience.”

A white-cheeked gibbon is sedated while undergoing a wellness checkup at Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Dr. Kailey Anderson examines a white-cheeked gibbon during a wellness checkup at theTurtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A zoo employee holds the hand of a white-cheeked gibbon during a wellness checkup at theTurtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Visitors to the Turtle Back Zoo watch through a large picture window as a white-cheeked gibbon undergoes a wellness checkup in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Through a picture window, Shuqing Wu and her daughter Eleanor Wei, 10, wave to a quarantined sulcata tortoise that just had a bath at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Visitors to the Turtle Back Zoo watch through a large picture window as a white-cheeked gibbon undergoes a wellness checkup in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Visitors to the Turtle Back Zoo watch through a large picture window as a white-cheeked gibbon undergoes a wellness checkup in West Orange, N.J., Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People watch as zoo staff prepare examine a quarantined sulcata tortoise at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

LONDON (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met French, German and British leaders in London on Monday as Kyiv’s European allies try to strengthen Ukraine’s hand in thorny talks on a U.S.-backed plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer gathered with Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the British leader’s 10 Downing St. residence.

Starmer shook hands with Merz on the doorstep of the residence, ignoring a reporter’s shouted questions. Macron arrived a few minutes later and also posed briefly for photographers with Starmer on the doorstep.

Zelenskyy arrived some 15 minutes after the others. As he entered the building with Starmer, he gestured toward the resident cat, Larry, who was loitering on the doorstep.

Zelenskyy said late Sunday that his talks with European leaders this week in London and Brussels will focus on security, air defense and long-term funding for Ukraine’s war effort. The leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the U.S. to deter Russia from attacking again.

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration’s peace proposal.

Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram that talks had been “substantive” and that National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov were traveling back to Europe to brief him.

A major sticking point in the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine must cede control of its eastern Donbas region to Russia, which illegally occupies most but not all of the territory. Ukraine and its European allies have balked at the idea of handing over land.

Starmer said he “won’t be putting pressure” on Zelenskyy to accept a peace settlement.

“The most important thing is to ensure that if there is a cessation of hostilities, and I hope there is, it has to be just and it has to be lasting, which is what we will be focused on this afternoon,” he told broadcaster ITV.

In an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared frustrated with Zelenskyy, claiming the Ukrainian leader “hasn’t yet read the proposal.”

“Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it," Trump said before taking part in the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington. "His people love it, but he hasn't read it."

Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since riding into a second White House term insisting that the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayers’ money. Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to bring an end to the nearly four-year conflict.

The European talks follow the publication of a new U.S. national security strategy that alarmed European leaders and was welcomed by Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the document, which spells out the administration’s core foreign policy interests, was largely in line with Moscow’s vision.

Speaking with journalists on Monday, Peskov said that the Kremlin welcomed the document’s focus on developing constructive relations with Russia.

“The nuances that we see in the new concept certainly look appealing to us,” he told reporters. “It mentions the need for dialogue and building constructive, friendly relations. This cannot but appeal to us, and it absolutely corresponds to our vision. We understand that by eliminating the irritants that currently exist in bilateral relations, a prospect may open for us to truly restore our relations and bring them out of the rather deep crisis.”

The document released Friday by the White House said the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”

The document also says NATO must not be “a perpetually expanding alliance,” echoing another complaint of Russia’s. It was scathing about the migration and free speech policies of longstanding U.S. allies in Europe, suggesting they face the “prospect of civilizational erasure” due to migration.

Starmer’s government has declined to comment on the American document, saying it is a matter for the U.S. government.

Russian forces continued to attack Ukraine Monday as diplomatic efforts continued.

Russian drones struck a residential high-rise in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka overnight, injuring seven people, the head of the regional administration, Oleh Hryhorov, wrote on Telegram. He said that the building suffered extensive damage.

Elsewhere, in the northern city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone injured three people when it exploded outside a residential building, regional head Viacheslav Chaus said. The attack also damaged a kindergarten, domestic gas pipes and cars.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Monday that Russia fired a total of 149 drones across the country overnight, of which 131 were neutralized and 16 more struck their targets.

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses destroyed 67 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Monday. The drones were shot down over 11 Russian regions, it said.

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office walks past. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

From left, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron meet at 10 Downing Street, in London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures while speaking as he takes part in a joint news conference with the Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin in Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Dec. 1, 2025 before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, a rescue worker puts out a fire of a residential building damaged by a Russian strike in Sumy region, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, a rescue worker puts out a fire of a car in front of a residential building damaged by a Russian strike in Sumy region, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)