LorraineO
12-11-2004, 08:50 AM
I am familiar with this Vet and know of his practice in town.thought I would share this with you all.
Dartmouth vet fixes bird's broken beak
DARTMOUTH, N.S. - A Nova Scotia veterinarian has performed a delicate operation on a somewhat unusual patient: an American bittern with a broken jaw.
The long-beaked wading bird is a common resident of the province in the summer months, but most have migrated to Florida by this time of year.
Bittern before surgery
The injured bird was found about three weeks ago, apparently unable to make the long trip south.
Dr. Jack Cameron of Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital stepped in to help repair the bittern's beak.
This kind of operation is not always successful, Cameron said.
"It can be really a fruitless endeavour. Sometimes with beaks they're just so delicate there's no way of holding them together. It's a little bit like trying to put a straw back together," he said.
"But in this case we were fortunate because there's a little channel along the beak that held the little pin we've inserted to keep things together. And it's done a pretty good job."
Dr. Jack Cameron at work
The bird has had to be hand-fed through a tube as it recovers from the surgery, and isn't always a co-operative patient.
"He's strong and he's cranky and he's eating well, so we're hopeful everything's going to go well," Cameron said.
Once it has fully recovered, the Eastern Shore Wildlife Rehab Centre wants to send it flying down south – by a commercial plane rather than under its own steam.
Dartmouth vet fixes bird's broken beak
DARTMOUTH, N.S. - A Nova Scotia veterinarian has performed a delicate operation on a somewhat unusual patient: an American bittern with a broken jaw.
The long-beaked wading bird is a common resident of the province in the summer months, but most have migrated to Florida by this time of year.
Bittern before surgery
The injured bird was found about three weeks ago, apparently unable to make the long trip south.
Dr. Jack Cameron of Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital stepped in to help repair the bittern's beak.
This kind of operation is not always successful, Cameron said.
"It can be really a fruitless endeavour. Sometimes with beaks they're just so delicate there's no way of holding them together. It's a little bit like trying to put a straw back together," he said.
"But in this case we were fortunate because there's a little channel along the beak that held the little pin we've inserted to keep things together. And it's done a pretty good job."
Dr. Jack Cameron at work
The bird has had to be hand-fed through a tube as it recovers from the surgery, and isn't always a co-operative patient.
"He's strong and he's cranky and he's eating well, so we're hopeful everything's going to go well," Cameron said.
Once it has fully recovered, the Eastern Shore Wildlife Rehab Centre wants to send it flying down south – by a commercial plane rather than under its own steam.