Real-Life Math
There's plenty of daily calculating in the work of an animal control officer (ACO). There are fines to add up, taxes to add, service fees to total and furry heads to count.
But they put their most important math to work when they have to tranquilize a difficult or wounded animal. They have to administer Ketamine, a controlled knockout drug, through a syringe. It can be tricky business.
"You have to estimate how much an animal weighs," says ACO Jen Holz. "It definitely requires a lot of skill.
"A lot of people's perception of dealing with wildlife comes from watching wildlife shows where they shoot darts and the animal just falls over. But it's more complicated than that -- once you tranquilize an animal, you're responsible for what happens to it."
You arrive at the scene of a car crash. Two golden retrievers, Sally and Sammy, were thrown from the back of a pickup truck and both are seriously hurt. You want to take them back to the kennel, where a vet can treat them. But you don't want them traumatized by the pain of the ride.
The formula for administering Ketamine is 0.25 cc per 10 pounds of animal. The dogs look about 100 pounds each. However, you've just come back from a busy day and you only have 3.5 cc's left in your kit. The full dose will knock the animal out, while a partial dose will only sedate the animal.
Sammy looks like he has internal injuries and is probably bleeding inside. He probably won't make it back to the kennel. Sally looks pretty bad. She has a compound fracture in her leg -- her bone is sticking though the skin -- but she'll probably make it.
You decide to give Sally enough to make it to the kennel, and just to sedate Sammy for now. How much do you give each out of the 3.5 cc's you have?