Veterinarians Remove Enormously Swollen Tongue To Save A Bear's Life

Here's a really weird story I just came across! A few days ago, veterinarians in Myanmar saved the life of a poor bear by removing his tongue! 

Why do such a horrible thing? Apparently, the tongue had, for yet unclear reasons, grown so large that it was destroying the bear's life! How big? This big:

The bear right before his tongue was surgically removed (credit)

The tongue weighted approximately three kilos and it had grown so big that the poor creature had to drag it on the ground. Needless to say, eating was almost impossible!

According to Heather Bacon, one of the doctors who operated on the bear, this was quite the medical oddity:

 “I’ve worked with bears for over 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s pretty astonishing.” said Heather Bacon. [1]

Nicknamed Nyan htoo, or "bright," the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) was initially rescued by monks after it was taken away from its mother by Burmese wildlife smugglers.

Since Nyan htoo is less than two years old, the vets think that the hugely swollen tongue was either something congenital or the result of elephantiasis, also known as Lymphatic filariasis, a syndrome caused by parasitic worms marked by severe swelling in various parts of the body. The latter is a bit unlikely as the disease is only known to inflict humans. 

"This was a really unusual medical condition — never before seen in any species of bear — but we weren't about to give up on Nyan htoo." said veterinary nurse Caroline Nelson at the Animals Asia's Bear Rescue Centre in Vietnam and Romain Pizzi from Wildlife Surgery International who participated in the surgery. [2]

This is the second time vets try to treat the animal. The first time was a year ago when the tongue much smaller but still way larger then the normal.  The first time they only removed some of the excess tissue but the tongue continued to grow and eventually became even larger than before.

As a result, they decided to take a more aggressive approach and remove it all together:

 “We had a lot of discussion and debate because it’s a major surgery that you cannot undo but we felt in terms of his quality of life it was the best way to give him as normal a life as possible. Having to carry around 3 kg of tongue is not normal and that’s a lot of weight on his jaw and head. Also, since he was dragging it around on the floor, from a hygiene point of view it’s pretty unpleasant and he couldn’t ever close his mouth. Now he should be able to close his mouth and manipulate food. It’s likely he’ll have a period of learning and adaptation because he’s obviously never experienced this before.”  said Heather Bacon. [1]

According to the latest reports, the surgery lasted for over 4 hours and the bear appears to have a good recovery. 

"Now, he will be able to eat much more comfortably, sleep in more natural positions and move more freely for the rest of his life." [2]

He looks quite happy with the result, don't you agree?

The tongue-less bear, photo after surgery (credit)

References

• https://www.theguardian.com
• https://www.livescience.com/60758-bear-tongue-swells-to-enormous-size.html

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