A member of a circus group feeds a hippopotamus during a show in Bangalore, India, Friday, Dec. 28, 2007. The traditional Indian circus today is struggling to remain afloat, amidst stricter animal regulations and financing issues.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
For Richard Reynolds
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I wonder if this is the same hippo described in this 2006 article - -
National Times of India
NT Bureau
Chennai ,India
Mar 17,2006:
For the first time in India, a team of surgeons, assisted by the students of Tamilnadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University(TANUVAS)
performed a dental surgery on a 30-year old hippopotamus. The hippo, a part of a circus company, weighs around 2500 kgs, has over grown canine teeth which made consumption of food an extremely arduous task.
Discussing the nitty gritty of the operation to the press here,
yesterday, Dr N Balaraman, Vice-Chancellor of TANUVAS said that
administering the sedative was the most challenging task for the surgeons, 'Due to the massive size of the animal, the job proved to be quite laborious', he said.
He went on to say that the operation itself was a complex procedure saying, 'The overgrown teeth was cut delicately with a wire saw to prevent any complications in the future'.
The operation was a success and the VC declared that the animal is
in good health and will be able to eat his food easily.
He said that the team composed of seven students and four surgeons
was headed by Dr R SureshKumar took about an hour to operate on the hippo.
He extolled the veterinary community for their continuous effort in improving palliative care to the animals, he said, 'I feel that there is still room for improvement in alleviating the pain undergone by animals
during complex operational procedures'.
The doctor said the hippo also suffers from total cataract in one
eye and partially in another, a team of doctors are examining the
possibilities of an operation to rectify the problem.
_____
The thing that caught my eye is the business of the eye problems because Zusha was so afflicted.
Susha appeared with RBBB-Red in 1997-98. She was presented and owned by the comely Ludmila Ahundova, Tofik Ahundova Jr. and Zina Avgoustova, all Russians. After the stint with RBBB the Russians took Zusha back with them. In 2006 Tim Holst told me she had been in China.
Then I found stories about a hippo in India with sight impairment, including the above and thought the coincidence too great to ignore that the possibiltiy that the animal is one and the same as Zusha.
Maybe a reader can say for sure?
Richard,
What I remember most about Zusha was she came into Dodge quickly and quietly, and left Dodge just as quickly and quietly. There have been a boat load of "too good to be true deals" over the years, that should have remained where they were.
Wade
Post a Comment