It's Friday afternoon in the animal ER, and the fur has hit the fan. The emergency room is filled with a Noah's Ark collection of creatures. An 8-foot boa constrictor named Dude is making a slithering attempt to avoid his surgery, and the anesthesia gas is leaking into the air.
Nurses call for help.
Faces behind white masks convulse with laughter. Welcome to Boston's Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, the Mass. General of the animal kingdom, where more than 125 creatures are treated each day, and one never knows what will walk or crawl through the doors. We had to open her up a month ago. Smith carefully cuts along the healing scars of the last surgery. We found socks, towels, and an entire T-shirt.