Boki, a European brown bear, suffers from hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid accumulates inside his head and presses against his brain.
In Boki’s cage at the Wildwood Trust, close to Canterbury, a group of skilled zoo veterinarians administered anesthesia before carefully moving his 23-stone bulk onto a makeshift operating table.
Throughout the procedure, Elliot Simpson-Brown is in charge of keeping an eye on Boki to ensure his unconsciousness and the safety of everyone else in the room.
“This is his best chance, this is his only chance,” he declared prior to the operation.
Five months ago, Boki began suffering seizures and eyesight issues.
The veterinary team was afraid he might not wake up in the spring if they did not operate before he entered torpor, a form of winter sleep.
Romain Pizzi, an Edinburgh-based expert known for taking on situations most veterinarians won’t handle, is doing the three-hour procedure.
He’s going to drill a tiny hole in Boki’s skull and insert a tube that will drain extra fluid from his bladder by passing under his skin and into his brain.
The only other time Mr. Pizzi has performed the surgery was on an Asian black bear in Laos.
