Little more than a month after it suffered a serious injury on its right forelimb, Sangeetha, the female jaguar at the city zoo, was on Monday shifted out of the zoo hospital after making a complete recovery.
The animal’s right forelimb was shattered at six places on July 4 following an attack by its mate inside their enclosure. The male was reportedly enraged by the lukewarm response of Sangeetha to its attempts at mating.
A team of veterinarians led by the zoo vet Jacob Alexander reattached the mangled limb during a three-hour operation. It took 67 sutures to hold the limb together.
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Though there were zoo officials who feared that the animal would never regain full use of its forelimb, the pace of recovery came as a surprise to everyone at the zoo.
“She is being moved to a larger cage now because she needs to walk more and regain full power in that leg. Yes, she was given constant medical care but the pace of her recovery was unbelievable. It was a relief to see her placing full weight on the damaged limb and to see her walk around the small cage at the zoo hospital,” a zoo official said.