Three-year-old Asiatic Black Bear undergoes keyhole brain surgery
Michelle Nijhuis reports national geographic on the surgery and recovery of the brave bear.
Since Champa’s rescue he has always had trouble socialising with the other bears and had an abnormally shaped forehead.Champa has lived most of her life in a sanctuary after being rescued from wildlife traffickers. Free the bears are a non-for profit organisation in which have been rescuing bears just like Champa just south of the city of Luang Prabang.
The report explains the scientific diagnosis of the bear.
“Sanctuary staff and veterinarians suspected hydrocephalus, or “water on the brain,” a disease that strikes humans as well as animals. It’s most commonly caused by the blockage or overproduction of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s cavities.”
Due to the protection laws in Laos to do with Buddhist ideologies, euthanasia which would usually be the answer to this bears condition was not an option. Keyhole surgery was a major risk.
“So Free the Bears called on Pizzi, a South African veterinary surgeon who works in Scotland at the Edinburgh Zoo and also at a national wildlife rescue center. Pizzi uses a technique called “keyhole,” or laparoscopic surgery, in which surgery is performed through a small incision and with the help of a camera.”
The report then goes on to explain the six-hour procedure in full detail. This may be too scientific for some readers, more interested in the bear’s recovery.
The ending paragraph should be expanded, in which this is the main interest of all readers, the recovery of the bear.
“Six weeks after the operation, Champa is markedly more active and more social with other bears, and she is gaining weight. She will always have some brain damage, since the accumulated fluid does cause permanent harm. And she will remain in captivity. But her relief is obvious.”
A remarkable story about what science and new knowledge is doing to the health and wellbeing of not only humans but animals as well.
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