Prize-winning bull in Vellore undergoes surgeries for leg fracture

VELLORE: In a first of its kind surgery in Tamil Nadu, veterinary doctors attached to the Vellore Veterinary Hospital at Makhan undertook four operations on a prize-winning bull, which broke its right leg, recently, sources said.

Babu a farmer and resident of Vellkuttai near Vaniyambadi owned the bull named Vellkuttai Bypass. A winner of many prizes in the surrounding areas, the bull broke its right leg after it successfully participated in a bull run at Pothur in nearby Andhra Pradesh.

The bone had snapped in two and the animal was rushed in a mini lorry to the Vellore Veterinary Hospital, which has a name for undertaking difficult and exotic surgeries on animals.

Headed by a team of vets, Nasar and Ravi Shankar, the doctors operated on the animal and connected the broken bones by placing a steel rod inside the leg. Another operation was performed to place a steel plate to ensure the joints functioned smoothly.

“As the nerves were smashed we had to operate again to ensure that the nerves were joined correctly and to cover up the affected area we undertook plastic surgery by taking flesh from the thigh and covered the operated upon portion,” Dr Ravi Shankar told DT Next. The animal is now convalescing at the hospital.

A few days earlier, Collector Kumaravel Pandian called Dr Ravi Shankar and felicitated him for his operating on a calf, which due to a birth defect passed feces through its umbilical cord. “The operation resulted in the animal now having ablutions normally,” he added.