ANIMAL SURGERY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5049, 8 November 1926, Page 1

ANIMAL SURGERY.

OPERATIONS IN LONDON ZOO.

MANICURING THE LIONS.

Within the London Zoo there is a hospital for patients who cannot talk about their symptoms when they fall ill, says a writer, in an English paper. When the great, yellow-maned lion goes off his raw, red meat and limps, with a furrowed face, up and down his cage, his keeper knows that something is wrong. He is not really a very sick lion ; but he needs a manicure.

In the Zoo hospital manicuring a lion is child’s play. The sick and grumpy lion is inveigled into a small cage with the lure of some; special delicacy. Once there, he is pushed into ,a corner by means of an advancing door, and his head and feet .are caught in a noose;. The Zoo manicurist then attends to the ingrowing claws, and the lion s;miles again. When Mr Bear goes on the sick list —usually either with indigestion or eye trouble —he is a pitiable sight. In dealing with him strategy again comes into play. He is lured to a safe, place, chloroformed, and operated upon just like a human patient. The hippopotamus is not a good patient ; he is. apt to be pepperjy. When he, has a headache, or feels; that things are not going well inside his armour-plated hide, he is rather, an awkward customer to tackle. The staff of the Zoo hospital pit human brains against biliite strength. “Hippos”, are very fond of Oranges, so tne sick fellow is given a special treat. He takes them, one by one, smacks his chops, and feels bettar. Little does he know that in one of those succulent fruits is a very powei*£ul dOse of medicine prescribed for him by Professor Wooldridge, ths consulting surgeon to the Zoological Society. When the wild boar neglects himself ,to such an extent that his tusk grows into the roof of his big mouth it is time to take him to hospital. Once there, he is soon tied up and gagged, ready for the chisel and mallet, with which his superfluous ivory is chipped off.

People who have watched the busy beavqr at work probably wonder how that industrious, little fellow manages to do all his gnawing with dply one set of teeth, in his native Canadian woods his incessant building of dams keeps his teeth a reasonably length. But in the Zoo, where he is idle, his teeth grow to an inconvenient length, sc/ he,, too, pays a periodical visit to the dental department. The casualty department of the hospital is t kept busy by the monkeys. Monkeys, like men, cannot keep from fighting. Teeth and nails send fur flying, and often the vanquished have to be removed for first aid.

Parrotts are regarded by most people as hardy, long-lived birds. So they are; but they have their troubles ! Asthma is.'one of them. Polly, with asthma, is popped into hospital Her. complaint makes her irritable, and vicious ; but she must get her medicine. She usually takes it without knowing it —camouflaged in a dainty morsel. Even the big aviaries of the; Zoo provide occasional, patients for the Zoo doctors. For instance, one bird broke a wing in flight. It was not destroyed, but the wing was cunningly set and the bird recovered. Most doctors will say that one o£ the compensations for their busy lives is the gratitude of their patients. This solace is denied the doctoT who makes the sick giraffe well and operates upon the ailing lion. For, though many big animals have a strange memory for the faces of the men who attended them when ill, they are by no means grateful. They harbour a grudge, 'for they remember the, pain, not knowing the benefits that flowed from it.

Fish are also among the patients at the Zdo hospital. In the magnificent aquarium, despite every scientific device to keep the fish population in 100 per ent. health; fish occasionally “go sick.” And whqn they do they have to be doctored. When Mr rainbow trdut begins to have a. sad look in his glassy eyes, when his tail flops instead of flapping, when he, swims but languidly and seems tired of life, he is ready for the hospital; and to hospital he goes forthwith. He is placed in a special tank, into which little daylight penetrates. The water is s,alty and he feels a little better. But the fungus, which' has battened on his scaly body, is still there. It is removed, and he returns home to report the benefits of a tfilp to the seaside !