Last week three of our four male African pygmy goats had the snip. We have seven pygmy goats at the zoo that arrived in two groups, the first was a mother and her two female youngsters, the second was a group of siblings, four males and one female. To make sure we don't get any inbreeding we decided to give three of the boys the snip leaving only one intact, he is called Elvis!! We also implanted the female in the second group with a contraceptive device.
Using our on-site veterinary facilities and one of our vets, Steve Grills we anaesthetised the males one at a time to do the procedure. When any animal is anaesthetised it gives us a great chance to give them a thorough check-up. Although our goats are easy to catch and check over without been anaesthetised it isn't such an easy thing to do with something like a lion or tiger.
Colin Northcott, our Head Keeper and Collection Manager, is currently off work having a similar procedure. Although the goats were running around as if nothing happened within the next few hours, it has taken him a week to recover.
I'm sure Colin will be delighted when he finds out you have announced details of his personal medical treatment to the world
ReplyDeleteThank you to anonymous for your concerns over the operation announcement on this blog. However. To reassure you. As the subject of the comment. I am in no way offended or embarressed about the comments made on the blog. Thousands of men have a vasectomy every year and i found the blog amusing and i am completely ok with the post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read the blog and i hope everyone enjoys them.
Head Keeper and Collection Manager. Dartmoor Zoo. (Recovering well!)
Personally i feel that the comment was a complete and utter joke. I feel that not only has it degraded the park but also those who work there.Is the way a professional establishment is run? i dont think so! Surely you should be focusing on talking about the animals and ways people can help the zoo, not an immature comment like the one above.
ReplyDeleteit was blatantly put as light hearted banter and for a bit of fun. Get off your high horse 'anonymous' and get a life! I think its nice that the keepers there can joke about these things.
ReplyDeleteHow silly of anonymous the keepers there do a brilliant job and the zoo is amazing, going from strength to strength. Its good that the keepers have a healthy fun relationship with each other as it keeps them happy it turn keeping the animals happy. Good work environment ect .. The zoo is very proffesional and light hearted jokes such as this give the zoo more of a personnal touch which is lovely and fun but still very proffesional. You must be a very hard person to work with. Keep up the good work dartmoor
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