By Daniel Schwartz, TME

Anybody with a pet knows that there is no love quite like that between a pet and their owner. We give our hearts completely to our animals, and to keep them healthy and happy, every community needs a Veterinarian and animal advocate like Dr. Diane Cosko.

Dr. Cosko is a veterinarian, lawyer, animal advocate, and owner of Mountain Aire Veterinary Hospital in Lebec. Her journey into animal care began as a child. Growing up, her family always had animals and her father built a huge aviary in her backyard. As a teenager, she briefly entertained becoming a professional windsurfer before ultimately deciding she wanted to be a vet.

In the 1980s, while caring for animals in San Diego and West Los Angeles (LA), she started visiting Frazier Park as one of the few vets who would work on llamas at Sigmund Lichter’s llama ranch. She also started caring for some of the animals at Dr. Mike’s vet clinic (now where there is a little studio at 3008 Mt. Pinos Way), where one small table was used as the exam table, surgery table, and kitchen table! Dr. Cosko would drive to the mountains on her days off, and if any animals from up here needed major care, lab tests or major surgery, she would drive them in her own car down to the larger animal hospital in West LA.

About the same time, Dr. Cosko and another vet had an agreement in place to purchase the hospital she was working at in West LA, when without notice the owner sold the business from under them leaving Dr. Cosko with just a part time job up here in Frazier park. Then that same week, she was told she either had to buy…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above: Doctor Diane Cosko and Heidi Noyola with Toby

Above: Katie Doolittle with Ranger

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This is part of the August 23, 2024 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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