Gerry Harding (novel canon)

Gerry Harding
Appearances	Jurassic Park
Species	Human
Role	InGen's Chief Veterinarian
Status	Alive
Family	Jessica Harding (daughter) Sarah Harding (daughter) Wallace (brother) Mrs. Harding (wife)

"I'll be damned..."

—Harding regarding the sick Triceratops dilated eyes^(src)

Dr. Gerald "Gerry" Harding was Jurassic Park's chief veterinarian in the novel Jurassic Park. He supervised the treatment of sick dinosaurs and the recapture of escaped animals. Whenever a dinosaur was sick, he would be the one out in the field treating it.

This character served as an inspiration source for the Film and Game version of Gerry Harding.

Early life

Dr. Gerry Harding was the chief of veterinary medicine at the San Diego Zoo and was the world's leading expert on avian care. He flew all over the world, consulting with zoos in Europe, India and Japan on the care of exotic birds.

There are indications that Sarah Harding, a primary character in Jurassic Park's sequel The Lost World, is Gerry's daughter. They share the last name Harding. Furthermore, she refers to her father as being a veterinarian who specialized in birds from the San Diego Zoo. This description correlates with Gerry Harding.

Jurassic Park

Gerry Harding accepted a position at Jurassic Park from Hammond because dinosaurs were the only creatures for which there didn't exist any zoo guidelines, so he would be famous by making them. He had to take care for the creature's health and making sure they couldn't escape. Eventually, he intended to write the first Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine: Diseases of Dinosauria. According to John Arnold, Harding and his Vet team were usually the only park staff to ever actually go out into the park.

InGen Incident

Gerry Harding first appears in the novel in the chapter Stegosaurus. The endorsement team meets him in the Stegosaur South region where he is investigating a Stegosaurus suffering from a strange disease.

He is not introduced to the team and (contrary to other characters) no description of his appearance or character is given. He also speaks little in this chapter. When the visitors leave, Ellie Sattler and Donald Gennaro stay behind to inspect the creature further and Gerry offers to give them a lift back to the Visitor Center and main visitor facilities.

When Malcolm is harmed by the Tyrannosaurus rex, Harding is made to treat him because his background is closest to that of a physician on the island. Malcolm accuses him of being "stingy with the drugs".

During the Velociraptor attack on the Safari Lodge, he opens the roof door to let Ellie in, but Ellie has already run away from the Raptors. He is attacked by a Raptor, but survives.