SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 16, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah’s Hogle Zoo’s white rhino, Princess, is closer to drool-free after a dental procedure that involved 20 medical care professionals, including rhino dental care expert Michael Lowder from the University of Georgia and large mammal anesthesia expert Ellen Widner from Colorado.
Princess, 39, debuted a custom-made fly mask this summer, but even before the media attention, the Hogle Zoo staff and noticed Princess was drooling and dropping hay more often than usual.
“Working with animals is like caring for a family member,” rhino keeper Lauren LeCoque said in a zoo-released statement. “We know their behaviors and personalities. We’d been monitoring her drooling for a few months then we knew it was time to ask for help.”
The Zoo staff used positive reinforcement to train the 4,000 rhino to receive injections like those that would be needed during a dental examination and procedure.
“Hogle Zoo staff had prepared so well, including training Princess for a variety of procedures,” Wiedner said afterward. “They made my job of running the anesthesia very easy.”
While she was under anesthesia, Princess received oxygen support and was monitored closely. Lowder, who traveled with 200 pounds of special rhino-sized dental instruments, found three loose molars which were removed. One molar was about the size of a deck of cards.
“Doing general anesthesia on a much-loved, elderly rhino could have been nerve-wracking, but the Hogle Zoo rhino and veterinary teams were wonderful,” Wiedner said in the prepared statement. “They were unbelievably well-prepared, knowledgeable and a lot of fun to work with. The procedure could not have been any smoother.”
The operation, performed on Sept. 18, took less than three hours. Princess was reunited with brother, George, by the next morning and was back on exhibit the following day.
“Her recovery surpassed our expectation,” said keeper LeCoque. “She was back to her spunky self within a week’s time.”
