Vets perform rare surgery to treat jackal's injured legs

T Murugesan, Forest Ranger, said that the public alerted the officials that the jackal was on the street. “The jackal couldn’t walk because it was injured. We took the animal to the Madras Veterinary College, following which a surgery was conducted by a private pet surgeon. We have rescued many jackals in the past but this is the first time that we have conducted such a complex surgery,” said the official.

Shravan Krishnan, an animal rescuer who aided the department, said that the male jackal was rescued outside Gandhi Mandapam at 10.30 am on Monday, June 12. 

“We saw that the hind legs had been run over by vehicles, since it was on the main road. We did an x-ray and found that both the hind legs were fractured. It was a one-and-a-half-yearold male jackal. We decided to operate on it on June 14,” he explained. 

It was a challenging surgery, said Dr K Sridhar, private pet surgeon, who conducted the complex surgery, assisted by veterinarian Dr J Lakshmikripa. “The legs were badly fractured and the wound was infected badly. 

We did internal fixation for the left handling (femur), using a technique called intra medullary pinning. For the right handling, we did external co-optation with fibreglass splints. It will take around 2-3 months for a full recovery, along with regular radiography follow-ups. 

Once the bridging callus take place between the fragments, we will remove the internal pins. Since this is a first, we hope the animal will recover soon,” concluded the surgeon.