NEWIND PRESS (Chennai, India) 10 January 08 Tending the venomous kind
Goldie was wondering why the room was so crowded. Like her, the other patients too were surprised to see so many people, some of them with fear in their eyes, standing near the patient who arrived in a plastic sack.
The patient was then shifted to a cloth bag. As many looked on and the cameras clicked, he was taken out - a tape tied around his mouth, half his body slided into a pipe. From there, he went to the observation table where his wound was cleaned.
Then he was taken to the operation table and nearly an hour later, the doctors declared that the surgery was successful.
It all happened at the District Veterinary Hospital, PMG Junction, on Wednesday afternoon. The patient was someone really special - a snake.
It was a rare moment for the hospital, for, it was the first time that a snake was operated on at the decades-old hospital. Among the lucky witnesses included Goldie, a pet dog, many other pets and their owners.
This male snake, a four-foot viper, was brought to the hospital by the members of Zoo Watch, a green group. The team, led by Palalayam Babu and Vava Suresh Kumar, along with volunteers Amy and Deepa, were present through out the surgery.
Babu and Suresh were involved in rescuing snakes for over a decade now. “The rescued reptiles are always handed over to the Forest Department,” said Babu.
Nearly a week ago a JCB had ruptured and slit open the hemipenes of this viper, crushing its tail also, at Kuttyani near Vattappara.
(The doctors described the condition as: Ablation of the hemipenes and amputation of distal part of the tail which had undergone gangrene due to crush injury).
The Zoo Watch members were taking care of it till now. “Anaesthesia (ketamine) was given to the snake after it was restrained. During the surgery, the hemipenes and the crushed portion of the tail were amputated,” said Dr Terrence B.R., senior veterinary surgeon at the hospital.
The snake will be brought to the hospital for the next three days for medication and the Forest Department has been intimated about the incident. A snake was operated on at the city zoo sometime ago to remove a tumour. The vipor is now recuperating at Suresh’s home. “It is kept in a glass tank on a water bed. The bed has warm water inside it. A female viper was also injured by the JCB. But we were able to take care of her on our own,” said Suresh.
Tending the venomous kind