This adult buffalo cow broke her left horn off quite a while ago. Unfortunately, the inside area where it broke off got infected and it never managed to heal. Therefore, causing chronic irritation to the cow.
The Saving the Survivors team was called out to assist an attending veterinarian. They were to try and clear up and infection. We would then close the gap to give it ample time to heal.
While the attending vet kept her under immobilisation, Dr Johan from STS managed to clean the inside. This was not only infected, but also had some maggots in it. Afterwards screws were placed in the horn. With orthopaedic wire, we formed a mesh cover over which a special acrylic could be placed to cover the large hole.
After 65 minutes the operation was finished and the cow was woken up. It is not always easy working on these large animals in the bush. We are confident that she should feel much better now, having had the chronic irritation removed and the large hole covered and closed up.
Thank you to our sponsors Craghoppers and Ford Wildlife.
