Pet & Animal Specialty
A veterinary emergency-care company that started in Columbus and grew into the country's largest network of its kind, a veterinary school ranked third in the nation, and a reclaimed-strip-mine conservation center the size of a small township -- Columbus's animal-care infrastructure runs well past just having a good zoo.
MedVet
MedVet was founded in Columbus in 1988 by Dr. William D. DeHoff as an emergency and specialty veterinary practice; the company now describes itself as the nation's largest network of veterinarian-owned and veterinarian-led emergency and specialty hospitals and urgent cares. Its original hospital, still operating in the Columbus area as MedVet Columbus, treats more than 39,000 patients a year across 17 specialty services offered under one roof, with emergency care staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Ohio State's College of Veterinary Medicine ranked third out of the 33 accredited veterinary schools in the United States in the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings, up from fourth place in the previous (2019) ranking cycle, according to the college's own announcement of the results. It's housed on Ohio State's Columbus campus, one of a relatively small number of U.S. veterinary programs that combine companion-animal, food-animal, and equine medicine on a single campus.
The Wilds
The Wilds, on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed strip-mine land in southeastern Ohio, is operated by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and describes itself as North America's largest conservation center. It cares for more than 600 animals across 25-plus species and runs 26 active conservation research projects, including reintroductions of scimitar-horned oryx and American burying beetles, plus hellbender conservation work done jointly with the Zoo's Ohio Center for Wildlife Conservation.