In a life-saving operation a group of Pretoria veterinarian doctors spent nearly four hours screwing and drilling metal plates into the shattered leg of a Zambian sable antelope.
The seriously injured antelope, which comes from a game farm in the North West Province, was rushed to the University of Pretoria Veterinary Science Faculty on Friday after its right hindquarter was shattered in a fight last week.
During the four-hour operation doctors had to use specially designed stainless steel metal plates and screws to mend the bones. The vet who had rushed the injured animal from a Thabazimbi farm, told the Pretoria News that the antelope, which had just calved, had had its leg broken by a male antelope during a mating fight.
Doctor Johan Maraise, who performed the operation, said that the nine-year-old antelope had its leg broken in five different places.
Speaking about the operation, Maraise said it had been very intricate as the break in the bone was "very bad, making the screwing in of the metal plates difficult. "The broken bone is likely to take about nine weeks to heal," he said.
On Monday Maraise said the antelope, taken back to the game farm on Friday, was reported to be in a satisfactory condition. He said vets on the game farm were continuing to monitor the antelope's condition and had so far reported that everything was okay. - Staff Reporter.