First-of-its-kind surgery on hyena in state

JAIPUR: In a first-of its-kind operation in the state, a striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena barbara) has been surgically operated upon at the Jaipur Zoo on Friday. The hyena was rescued by the forest and zoo forest officials from a village near Dudu on Wednesday.
"After a diagnosis, we found the hyena had sustained two fractures, one on the foreleg and the other on hindleg.The condition of the hyena was critical, and therefore we had to operate on it," Dr Arvind Mathur, veterinary doctor at the Jaipur Zoo, said.
While in most cases, hyenas are treated through tranquilizers, the zoo authorities claim that this is the first time in the state, when a hyena has undergone a surgically orthopaedic correction'.
According to the zoo officials, the two-year-old hyena (female) had suffered severe leg injury, after the villagers attacked her with sticks and stones. The young female in possible search for a mate went astray and entered the village premises.
"They had arranged for a tractor to kill her. While running for her life, the hyena fell into a ditch, which was about seven feet deep. The villagers then tried to capture her by tying her with a rope," Dr Mathur, who was part of the rescue team said.
When rescued, the hyena was in a "state of shock", and suffered from laboured breathing. The doctors had to immediately administer her tranquilizers, and kept her in the isolation cage in the zoo.
"We had to wait for a few days for the animal to come out of the shock, and on Friday morning we operated on her. She had suffered fracture on her right foreleg (radius-ulna) and left hind leg (tibia-fibula)," Dr Mathur said.
"Following the operation, the hyena's condition has improved and she has shown slight body movements, which is a positive sign," Dr Mathur added. Zoo superintendent, Dinesh Gaur said, the hyena will be kept under medical supervision, and if required will be administered glucose through drip.
The striped hyenas are threatened by a loss of habitat in the state. After vultures, which are threatened by extinction, hyenas are scavengers, which feed on dead and decomposed matter and help in keeping the environment clean.
"The corridors for the animals to move from one forest to another have been encroached upon by various road constructions and settlements. We need to educate people, especially villagers to value wildlife, which plays an important role in maintaining the ecological balance," Gaur said.