Born and raised in New England, Dr. Danya Linehan has worked in the veterinary field since 1983 and has been a practicing veterinarian since 1993. She obtained a BS in animal science at the University of New Hampshire and her veterinary degree at Ohio State University.
Danya met her first pony in her fifth year on the planet. This being northern New Hampshire in the middle of February, the ground was covered with snow and ice. Still, this kid asked the farmer if she could please feed his pony some of the grass she had been stuffing in her pockets all summer and fall in anticipation that someday she might meet a pony. And that’s how it started. Her first job at 15 years of age was as ‘The kennel girl’ and sometimes veterinary assistant for mentor, Dr. David Berliner in Concord, NH. In addition to small animal medicine, her career has included wildlife rehabilitation, shelter work for both large and small animals, and outreach education with the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Dr. Linehan spent 11 years learning from Dr. Donn Griffith and, thanks to him, earned her veterinary acupuncture certification in 1997 from the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society.
Dr. Linehan is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Ohio Veterinary Medical Association and the Association of Veterinary Technician Educators. She began teaching at Stautzenberger College in 2006. Working with future veterinary technicians, developing curriculum, writing and teaching classes on campus and now online, became her more than full-time job. Teaching has become yet another passion and huge learning experience.
Other animal-focused waking hours are spent doing volunteer shelter work, serving on the Ohio Pet Fund Board and helping provide TNR, food and shelters for local feral colonies. Dr. Linehan spreads the word about animal issues – physical, societal and behavioral – through radio and webinar appearances and at seminars for the pet-owning public and for shelter staff and volunteers. She also participates in big cat rescue operations with The Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Indiana.
Dr. Linehan’s interest in all things feline behavior evolved in an effort to make her own super-multi-cat family as happy, enriched and harmonious as possible. It also became a necessity in response to an ever-growing influx of feral kittens in need of socialization before placement, and to the needs of our fearful and displaced shelter animals. Danya lives with her husband Mike Parks, a musician and sculptor by trade and dedicated animal advocate by nature, and over a dozen animal friends.
