Five vets operate on sedated 17-stone tiger for ‘tricky' paw operation
Tschuna, a 15-year-old Amur tiger, underwent the procedure after keepers noticed she was limping.
Head of carnivores Bex Brown said the team were able to identify the issue by asking Tschuna to stand up and put her paws on the mesh.
Vets then injected Tschuna with a short-lasting general anaesthetic to ease the procedure. Staff said she is now "getting back to her playful self".
The operation, which took less than 15 minutes, involved vets gently clipping off a claw on Tschuna's front left paw to stop the risk of infection and remove the discomfort.
'Tiger anaesthetics are particularly tricky, so it was a quick procedure to ensure everyone involved, including Tschuna, was safe,' said Dr Charlotte MacDonald, director of animals at the park.
'Tschuna came back round relatively quickly and should have a speedy recovery, though she probably has a bit of a headache from the anaesthetic.
'We're keeping her in the house at first to recover fully and then she'll hopefully be back to her playful self again very quickly.'
Ms Brown said: 'Any anaesthetic there would always be an element of nerves, it's something we always want to try and avoid, but trying to trim it would have caused her pain, she wouldn't have allowed us to do that. Leaving it would have been painful and uncomfortable for her.
'Also, because we don't sedate them often at all, it was a good opportunity to give her a full MOT while she was asleep.'
Tschuna arrived at the park in 2013 as part of an international breeding programme to help support the species, also known as Siberian tigers, which came close to extinction as numbers dwindled to around 30.
She gave birth to three cubs at the park in 2015 – one of them, Hector, has become a father at Cleveland Zoo in the US – and it is hoped she will partner with three-year-old male Altai, who arrived at the park earlier this year, to produce more cubs as part of the European Endangered Species Programme.
Ms Brown said Tschuna is 'a princess', adding: 'If we present her food she often puts the food on her other paw rather than off the ground.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
19 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bicester Motion fire: Bikers ride in tribute convoy
More than 170 motorcyclists have paid tribute to two firefighters and a member of the public who died in a blaze at a business parkFirefighters Jennie Logan, 30, and Martyn Sadler, 38, along with father-of-two Dave Chester, 57, were killed in the fire that engulfed the Bicester Motion site on 15 enthusiast Rob Polland organised the Ride to Remember from Cherwell Valley services to Bicester town said the ride in convoy aimed to "bring the community together". Mr Pollard said the ride came about after he put the idea out to fellow motorcyclists on social media."The comments and support has been amazing," he said. "A lot of people have been affected by the fire - people have got involved from all parts of the UK."He said the mass ride had been a "special and memorable" event. The fire at Bicester Motion was reported at about 18:30 BST on 15 May and rapidly spread through a former aircraft hangar at the site on Buckingham Road, and a major incident was tribute after the fire, the family of Mr Sadler, who previously worked for Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) and was also part of London Fire Brigade, said being a firefighter was "always in his blood", adding that he was "the true definition of a hero".The family of Ms Logan said her "bravery and fearlessness shone through right until the end".Mr Chester's family described him as "Bicester born and bred" with a "quirky sense of humour".Bicester Motion is home to more than 50 specialist businesses, focused on classic car restoration and engineering on the former site of RAF was the base of RAF Bomber Command in World War Two and became redundant in month police, fire and Health and Safety Executive investigation work at the scene concluded. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Parents, beware the devastating consequences of measles
After reading the letters about vaccine misinformation and hesitancy (Measles surge shows why vaccinations are crucial, 20 July), I felt I must write to tell you of one unrecognised cause of the drop in vaccine uptake: when I worked as a community school nursing sister in the 1980s, with 11 state schools and a number of private schools that took up the vaccine service, we had 98% uptake of vaccines in the school setting. This was due to the system of sending letters home to parents requesting their consent and following up by phone, if necessary, by the school office staff. The children came in class batches. Then the local health authority decided that this service should be discontinued and parents were invited to take their child to the local GP surgery for their vaccinations. The uptake plummeted to less than 40% of eligible children due to children not taking the letters home, or parents forgetting or losing the letter – or being unable to take time off to take their child to the surgery. When I asked the GPs at the local health centre what the uptake for the cohort of eligible children was, they looked at their records and were surprised, but reluctant to do anything about it. Health visitors were responsible for, and very successful in, advising new mothers when vaccines were due, where to get them and encouraging uptake. It should be compulsory for all vaccines for preschool children (which includes measles) to be done before a child is admitted to school, as in many other countries. As a midwife, I saw a baby born to a mother who had contact with rubella in early pregnancy. The little girl was born with a body rash, had bilateral cataracts and was totally deaf. She was was very ill. Schools for deaf children may return again for these children if vaccination is not taken up for whatever reason. How StephensLiphook, Hampshire I contracted measles just before the NHS was established. With it came serious ear infections, burst eardrums, etc. There were no vaccines, just ear drops. Over the years the infections and operations continued and now, aged 82, I have no hearing with complications. I beg people to think seriously about vaccination. The consequences of measles can sometimes be devastating. Jean JacksonSeer Green, Buckinghamshire I caught measles aged six in 1953, at a time when parents hoped their children would get it (and chicken pox and mumps) so as to gain immunity. My dad, aged 54, had not had measles as a boy, caught it from me and nearly died. The risk of not vaccinating children is not just to WallLondon
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Reading deeper into Virginia Woolf's vicious diary entry
John Harris confuses Virginia Woolf's admittedly vicious diary entry about disabled people with her firmly held beliefs in referring to her 'grim ideas' and associating her with contemporary eugenics (Again and again, we are shocked by the treatment of learning-disabled people. Yet we never learn from the past, 20 July). Under the Mental Deficiency Act 1913, mentioned by Harris, Woolf could easily have been categorised as an 'imbecile' during her several breakdowns, and hallucinations occasioned by family deaths and sexual abuse by her half-brothers. Woolf's experiences of medical professionals who forced her to gain weight and forbade reading and writing (which made her life meaningful), and of private asylums, left her in no doubt of this possibility, which she illustrates so brilliantly in Mrs Dalloway. The diary entry is surely a defence mechanism and projection – caricaturing others' features to displace her personal HummVice-chair, Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
