Abu Dhabi: A veterinary surgeon was specially flown in here from the United States to perform surgery on a young male jaguar suffering from severe tooth infection for more than a month.
The successful operation on the big cat from Abu Dhabi Wildlife Centre was conducted at the British Veterinary Centre (BVC) facilities in the capital.
A Gulf News team was given special access to witness the surgery.
The operation, lasting an hour and forty-five minutes, was conducted by Dr Barron Hall from Ohio in the US, with assistance from a team from BVC led by Jonathan Hale.
Tiger, the one-and-a-half-year-old jaguar, had a swollen jaw and a big wound underneath.
Dr Hall removed three teeth both left upper and lower canine teeth and the second left premolar. One of the big canine teeth was badly infected. The other two teeth were diseased.
"At least five more teeth need to be removed, which include the other two canine teeth," he said, adding the big cat can live without the canine teeth as he is not in the wild. Dr Hall said it was his first overseas dental surgery and the first on a Jaguar.
