Surgery for lion with deadly hairball

Vets have carried out an emergency operation on a safari park lion to remove a deadly football-sized hairball. Tiny the lion was just hours from death at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Smarden, near Ashford in Kent when he was taken in for emergency surgery.

The 200kg cat had to be anaesthetised using a dart and blowpipe by a vet in his den before the operation, which involved six vets and eight handlers. His keeper Mark Edgerley said: "Our lions are fed horse meat which has a certain amount of skin and horse hair in it because it helps the lions with their digestion."



Part of his mane and tail fur was also found by the surgical team, who spent several hours operating to remove the hairball in his stomach. A three foot-long length of inflamed gut also had to be removed.

Maralyn Hawkins, practice manager of Pets Ltd where the surgery took place, said: "Tiny was brought to us because we have a operating theatre set up for large animals. It's mainly used for horses, not lions." She added: "Eight people had to lift him onto the operating table, he was that big and heavy.



"But seeing a lion right in front of your eyes, an animal of that size and magnitude so close up, is amazing. Obviously it is not nice that a lion had to be operated on, but seeing him brought a smile to everyone's face. You couldn't resist it. It was a real wow moment."

After the surgery, Tiny was lifted back into a cage and driven back to his enclosure in a lorry. He came round from the anaesthetic back in his den. Andrew Porter from the Wildlife Heritage Foundation added: "He is doing brilliantly. Tiny is a picture of health now and is back to his normal self enjoying playing in his enclosure with his brothers. The operation was a major success."