UK Veterinarians Complete a First of Its Kind Surgery To Heal a Wounded Rhino
Amara is expected to make a full recovery after undergoing the first known surgery to repair the creature's fractured ulna.
Published Sept. 20 2024, 3:38 p.m. ET
A rhinoceros named Amara made history after becoming the first rhino to undergo surgery for a broken leg. The young white rhino is a resident of the Knowsley Safari Park in northwestern England. Experts from near and far were brought to the conservation park to help pull off the procedure, something that they said had never been attempted before her September 19, 2024 operation.
Amara's recovery period was estimated to be several months long, which means caretakers will need to wait quite a while to see if the surgery to repair her broken leg was a success. Bear in mind, while this may be a successful operation, zoos or safari parks are ultimately unnecessary and often result in doing more harm than good for the animals in their care.
You can learn more about the first-ever operation below.
A team of veterinarians were tasked with repairing a fracture in Amara's leg.
The trouble started when safari staff noticed that the Southern white rhino had begun limping, according to a statement shared with ABC News.
"The Knowsley Safari team brought in specialist equine surgeons from the University of Liverpool to help with the diagnosis, where radiographs confirmed a fractured ulna," a representative from Knowsley Safari Park shared, explaining that the injury was isolated to her front right leg.
According to ABC News, the ulna (also known as the ulnar bone) is the equivalent of the bone humans have between their wrist and their elbow. In Amara's case, this bone is responsible for supporting a great deal of weight — 1,763.7 pounds, according to an article from the University of Liverpool that was published by the Phys.org blog — which made it important to fix before the continued pressure turned the fracture into a more serious break.
The leg surgery had to take place in Amara's enclosure because of the unique nature of the procedure.
Doctors rushed to Amara, and they completed the entire operation inside of her enclosure. "Due to the unprecedented nature of the procedure, we didn't know how much room we would have to operate, or how much of the affected area we would be able to see," Dr. Stack told ABC News about the process.
The procedure took the team of 10 doctors five hours to complete, but this was only the first step in Amara's journey towards healing. There is no existing precedence for this procedure and therefore there is no clear information on how long recovery will take or what the process will look like for Amara herself. Safari staff told ABC News Amara has always been known for her "boisterous play," something that is unlikely to be helpful while she heals.
Southern white rhinos like Amara have seen their populations decline drastically over the years.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), white rhinos are on the "near threatened list," with an estimated population of just 18,000. Many of them live in designated areas to help protect the remaining white rhino population after previous numbers dropped below 100 in 1895 due to poachers hunting them for their horns.
Hopefully, with the success of Amara's surgery, animals will benefit from what the doctors learned, and more of them can be helped if they suffer similar injuries.
