Bear recovering after 'world first' brain surgery
Two-year-old Boki has made history as the first brown bear on record to undergo life-saving brain surgery.
Boki was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid builds up in the brain. His seizures had worsened, and with medication no longer controlling his symptoms, it became clear that surgery was needed to ensure his survival through the winter.
Boki is now recovering after the 5 hour procedure.
Boki was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid builds up in the brain. His seizures had worsened, and with medication no longer controlling his symptoms, it became clear that surgery was needed to ensure his survival through the winter.
Boki is now recovering after the 5 hour procedure.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00If he didn't have the operation tomorrow, his lifespan would probably be quite short.
00:28It's extremely important to all of us that we get this right and that we give him this opportunity to get better.
00:36It's such a special day, honestly.
00:43We want the best for him.
00:52I'll see you later when I can see how he's doing as well.
00:57I'm Romain Pizzi, I'm a specialist wildlife veterinary surgeon and I'm here to do Bucky's brain surgery.
01:273, 2, 1, right.
01:43Yeah, so I think if we flip him and we put him mainly on his back and see how his head lies.
01:48I mean, I might be able to get with less surgical wounds if I do this.
02:19X marks the spot.
02:25So at the moment Elliot's induced the anaesthesia in Bucky and he's had a lovely anaesthetic so far.
02:32Elliot's managed to keep him nice and calm and Donna and Gary have helped with doing the preparation.
02:38So we've done a very big clip so that everywhere that we could need to make, even though they're very small incisions,
02:43we can't plan exactly where we're going to need to run the tube.
02:47So there's a very, very big shave and we're just sterilising the skin now so that we can start.
02:52So we're about to go for it.
03:17So it's taken more than five and a half hours to do the actual surgery,
03:46which we'd hoped to be much quicker than that,
03:49but the anatomy's been quite different this time to the previous bed that we did the surgery on
03:54and Bucky gave me a couple of challenges.
03:56The anaesthesia was lovely and stable and he didn't react to anything I was doing with the brain,
04:01but it's just one of those days where there were a couple of things we had to work around.
04:04So he stayed stable. Everything's gone well now.
04:07There's been no major bleeds or problems, so we just have to see how he's going to recover.
04:38That's it. You lift your side. Rotate that that way.
04:46That's it.
04:48And we do have link to the cameras in the dens onto our phones.
05:06So last night when we all left, we were still looking, checking,
05:09and he slept pretty much throughout the whole night.
05:12He's a gorgeous bear and just everyone's investment and everyone's love for him
05:16and just his tolerance for everything we've put him through
05:19just means that you just want the result for him that he deserves.
05:23So to see him up and eating this morning, I have to admit,
05:27was at the point of holding back tears because genuinely he's just such a gorgeous animal
05:32and to see what he's come through and he's still willing to trust us, feed,
05:37have a scratch, you know, it's just, it's a lot.
05:52He is a very trusting, very friendly, very personable bear.
05:56You know, there's a little bit goofy about him and he is a real character
06:01and I can see why everyone so strongly supports him.
06:04He's a real character and I can see why everyone so strongly bonded with him
06:08and even this morning, the thankful bit is I've not done his anesthesia
06:12so he doesn't know who I am so he didn't mind me going and having a look
06:15and he is very trusting. We got him to take his medication
06:19and I think we all really, really want him to do well
06:22so we're all really keeping our fingers crossed for him.
06:34For more information visit www.FEMA.gov