By Frances Cook
Wellington Zoo’s glass-walled operating theatre, made famous by Happy Feet’s numerous procedures, had another rare visitor today – a female sun bear who made her first ever visit.
Sasa the sun bear, who was born at the zoo five years ago, was successfully fitted with contraceptives, despite giving zoo staff a small scare when the anaesthetic started to wear off in front of watching zoo visitors.
Senior carnivore keeper Dave French says Sasa needed a contraceptive implant to stop unwanted attention from her father, so staff took the opportunity for other checks while she was unconscious.
“This is Sasa’s first time in the nest, so we thought having her knocked out we’d take advantage and do the dental and the health check at the same time, and plus give the visitors a great experience.
“We actually got some people touching her on the way down, it’s not every day you can say you’ve touched a sun bear.”
The procedure wasn’t without issues – while supposedly under anaesthetic on the health centre table, and in front of zoo visitors, the 80kg bear started to move.
“We try to keep the animals … not going into a deep, deep sedation that they might not wake up from or have complications with,” Mr French says.
“It may just be that the gas wasn’t reaching her lungs quite as effectively, and she started to show signs of being too light for our liking.
“What was happening was that she was having some reactions – she was raising her head and stuff, it wasn’t that she was awake and coming out of it, it was just that her body had more movement than we would like.”
Sasa was quickly injected with a standby anaesthetic, and after waiting the bear to be properly unconscious again, vets were able to carry on.
Wellington Zoo chief executive Karen Fifield says keepers can usually check the sun bear’s health through daily training in their enclosure, and the need rare visit to the health centre had drawn in visitors.
“Pretty excited people sitting outside and pretty excited zoo staff I must say, because we don’t usually have Sasa in the Nest [health centre].”
The contraceptive may not be permanent though, as a new enclosure is on the way that would allow the zoo to bring in a breeding partner for Sasa.
The brand new $2m enclosure, to be finished by March 2012, would replace the current enclosure which was originally meant for polar and brown bears.
“Any exhibit we build in a zoo is unique,” Ms Fifield says.
“And it has quite specific requirements, particularly for animals like bears that are quite dangerous to work with.”
Click on the video tab for extended footage and interviews with Mr French and Ms Fifield.
3 News