This news item is about: Ana Alcaraz grew up in Mexico City surrounded by a menagerie of animals she collected in her family’s apartment: dogs, cats and an assortment of turtles, chickens and fish. After graduating high school, it wasn’t a surprise when she enrolled in the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City to pursue a veterinary education. When she earned her D.V.M., however, she didn’t feel clinical practice was her true calling.