Lion-keeper’s suspicions were raised when Samouni, Ramat Gan Safari’s 8-year-old lion developed a swelling. His surgery team removed a tumor that will be tested to see if its malignant.
An 8-year-old lion at a wildlife park in Israel had a tumor removed from its abdomen on Wednesday.
Safari staff prepare Samouni for the operation – Photo: Reuters
The lion, Samouni, developed a swelling in his abdomen that was seen in a routine daily medical checkup and aroused the suspicions of his keeper at the Ramat Gan Safari.
Clinical staff took a biopsy two weeks ago, but laboratory tests were unable to determine what kind of tumor it was.
“Two weeks ago, we tried to find out what the lump was,” the lion’s vet, Dr. Ariella Rosenzweig, said.
“We aspirated [a medical procedure used to remove tissue samples for a biopsy], but unfortunately we didn’t manage to discover what kind of tumor it was. So today we anesthetized him and operated on him to take all of the lump out and to send it to the lab to find out what kind of tumor it was.”
During the two-hour operation performed by the safari’s head veterinarian on the fully anesthetized Samouni, a tennis ball-sized tumor was removed.
The tumor will be send to a lab to test for malignancy.
According to his doctors, Samouni is recovering under supervision in a special night room and doing well. He will be returning to the lions’ fenced-in free-range area in the safari park tomorrow.
View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=27229
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