A special Cheetah operation!

Yesterday I was able to participate and photo-document a very special operation. A specialist surgeon operated on one of our male Cheetah to ‘re-build’ a torn ligament in the cat’s left leg.

During the procedure I was sitting in a good photo position behind the large carnivore and I was assigned an additional job. Every few minutes I had to tickle inside the Cheetah’s ear to see if there was any reaction like twitching or growling. That way the vet could judge if more drugs were needed to keep the cat asleep. A very special task not part of my usual job description!

Pictures:

1 – The Cheetah and I

2 – Waiting for the surgeon

3 – Pre-Op, asleep and ready for surgery

4 – X-Ray in the bush

5 – The surgery begins

6 – Post-Op, just before wake-up

#Christiansperkaphotography @christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari @thandasafari