DR. PETE SCHROEDER
is Director of Research at Global Research
and Rescue, (grr) with an extensive career background in
the area of marine mammal Veterinary Medicine. Dr Schroeder
entered private, general, veterinary practice at his Rancho Solana Animal
Hospital, Solana Beach, CA, June 1966, with Sea World San Diego soon becoming
part of his practice. Ten years later he became Chief of the Veterinary
Medical Unit, Research, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, San
Diego, and Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine, at the
University of California, San Diego, from 1976 to 1981. From 1981 to 1991
he was the program manager for Marine Mammal Health and Health Research at Navel
Ocean Systems Center, Kaneohe Bay, HI, (the Navy’s laboratory for marine mammal research and development), and
an affiliate member of the Graduate Faculty in the Department of Microbiology at
the University of Hawaii. He was also a consultant in Marine Mammal Health and
Research programs for Ocean Park, Hong Kong, the governments of the Bahamas,
Taiwan, China and the United States. He is currently an active member of the
Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission of the
World Conservation Union (IUCN) and has contracts with NOAA Fisheries for input
to the Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Plan and the US Navy for necropsies.
Dr. Schroeder’s Laboratory at Naval Ocean Systems Center, Kaneohe Marine Corp Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, HI, was the site of his Marine Mammal Health Research Program jointly funded by the Office Of Naval Research and SPAWARS. Dr. Schroeder was involved as program manager and principal investigator for research programs in marine mammal reproductive physiology and stress physiology. Preventive medicine was highly emphasized and though he managed the largest herd of captive marine mammals in one place in the world, 66 animals, there was zero death loss from 1986 to 1991. His preventive medicine program, including training paradigms for complete physical examinations while the marine mammals remained in the water, was adopted as a regular training protocol for all US Navy marine mammals and others. Dr. Schroeder was involved as consultant veterinarian for the capture of an orphaned baby Killer Whale (A73, Springer) in Puget sound during the summer of 2002, he was the lead veterinarian in charge of her 30 day rehabilitation period and consulting veterinarian on the release of A73 back to her pod in Johnstone Strait, BC, 400 miles north of her collection site. Dr. Schroeder has numerous publications and scientific presentations and has been involved in first time selected research projects. Starting in 1991, he is involved in numerous community projects on the Olympic peninsula of Washington State and is a member of several professional associations. Dr. Schroeder is also a past commissioner of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission and a past president of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine.