Heart screening in 6 orangutans and 4 sunbears 🐵 🐻 💔
Throwback to Bali and Borneo, now already one year ago 🇮🇩
With a great team of friends we trained local vets how to treat orangutans and sunbears with dental problems (Gerhard Putter), screen for heart disease (myself) under safe general anaesthesia (Aleksandr Semjonov), who are protected in these large sanctuaries.
Whilst this project was important for the individual animals that were treated and helped, we also were able to gather important data 📚 :
-Cardiovascular disease, e.g. interstitial fibrosing cardiomyopathy, is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in Great Apes, including orangutans, in zoos whilst very little is known about their free-ranging counterparts.
-Moon bears rescued from illegal bile farms have been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM-phenotype), although this might be secondary to the chronic stress they are suffering from. Very little is known about the cardiovascular system in the closely related sunbears.
Proud of this project, proud to have been part of this team 🚀
Orangutan Veterinary Aid (OVAID) Sara Fell Hicks Dr Nigel Hicks
PS: Thank you Sebastiaan Tavernier, ibrahima Sory BARRY, ECHOMEDIC ULTRASOUND for letting me drag an M9 machine through the jungle, much appreciated!
Cheers ❤️ ⚕
Throwback to Bali and Borneo, now already one year ago 🇮🇩
With a great team of friends we trained local vets how to treat orangutans and sunbears with dental problems (Gerhard Putter), screen for heart disease (myself) under safe general anaesthesia (Aleksandr Semjonov), who are protected in these large sanctuaries.
Whilst this project was important for the individual animals that were treated and helped, we also were able to gather important data 📚 :
-Cardiovascular disease, e.g. interstitial fibrosing cardiomyopathy, is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in Great Apes, including orangutans, in zoos whilst very little is known about their free-ranging counterparts.
-Moon bears rescued from illegal bile farms have been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM-phenotype), although this might be secondary to the chronic stress they are suffering from. Very little is known about the cardiovascular system in the closely related sunbears.
Proud of this project, proud to have been part of this team 🚀
Orangutan Veterinary Aid (OVAID) Sara Fell Hicks Dr Nigel Hicks
PS: Thank you Sebastiaan Tavernier, ibrahima Sory BARRY, ECHOMEDIC ULTRASOUND for letting me drag an M9 machine through the jungle, much appreciated!
Cheers ❤️ ⚕
