Leopard undergoes successful surgery in Thailand
Veterinarians successfully removed a large tumour from a leopard‘s face in Suphan Buri province in central Thailand yesterday. The big cat is recovering well from the surgery.
Officials from the Bueng Chawak Non-Hunting Area reported that a 15 year old male leopard named Tree, weighing 51.5 kilogrammes, was operated on yesterday at the Bang Chawak Wildlife Management Centre.
Tree was shot with an anaesthetic dart before veterinarians carried him out of his pen and onto the operating table.
The medical team measured the tumour attached to Tree’s face, near his eye, to be 4.5 centimetres wide and 5 centimetres long.
Vets successfully removed the tumour from the leopard’s face. Then, Tree received a long-acting antiseptic injection which will be effective for 14 days, pain relievers and nourishing vitamins.
Tree was moved back into his pen to slowly wake up from the anaesthesia and is now recovering well, said officials.
A sample of the tumour will be sent to the laboratory for testing to see if it is cancerous or non-cancerous.
If it is a cancerous lump then Tree may need to undergo further treatment.
The report did not state whether Tree was a wild leopard from the non-hunting area or a long-term resident of the Bang Chawak Wildlife Management Centre.
Perhaps 15 year old Tree is a captive leopard given that a leopard has an average lifespan of 10-12 years in the wild and up to 23 years in captivity.
Last week, camera traps in the mountains of Kanchanaburi captured a beautiful clouded leopard strutting its stuff through a conservation area which will soon be declared a non-hunting zone.
Leopards are listed as ‘near threatened’ on the IUCN Red List. However, in some areas, they are endangered or even critically endangered.
On Sunday, tourists and locals in Kanchanaburi were urged to be cautious after a tiger wandered out of the forest and was spotted sauntering around Srinagarind Dam.
