CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — The Metro Richmond Zoo and a team from BluePearl in Richmond successfully performed a leg surgery on the zoo's 9-year-old cheetah, Bo, earlier this month.
Zookeepers noticed Bo had an injury to one of his legs and, after taking some X-rays, discovered he had calcaneal fracture in the heel bone from an unknown injury and needed surgery.
The zoo said they reached out to Dr. Amy Gifford-Gara, a local board-certified veterinary surgeon at BluePearl, to perform the procedure. She enlisted the help of Amy Hatcher and Tori Lane, a vet tech and surgery assistant to perform the operation on Feb. 2.
On the day of the surgery, Dr. Cheryl Antonucci and Dr. Kiley Cameron, and the zoo's vet tech, Emma Enea, prepared him by inserting an IV catheter and checking his heart and respiratory rates. The visiting vet team shaved Bo’s leg and cleaned it prior to the procedure.
After Bo was moved into the surgical room, and the zoo said their vet team placed him under general anesthesia and monitored his vitals during the operation.
Gifford-Gara created an incision in Bo’s leg and cleaned out bone fragments and scar tissue. She placed two metal plates and screwed them into the bone to hold the broken bone together and help Bo heal quickly, the zoo said.
After the plates were inserted, Gifford-Gara sutured the wound and cleaned up his leg — even meticulously stitching Bo’s spots together so they would line up as normal.
The zoo said X-rays were conducted post-operation which showed the procedure was successful.
After the operation was completed, Bo was transported back to the zoo’s Cheetah Conservation Center. The zoo said he is recovering well from surgery and is enjoying life back with Bear, his brother-like, cheetah companion.
