A brown bear is alive today thanks to a life-saving brain surgery. Fast forward several months, and the bear appears to be in good health all things considered.
Boki, the brown bear, underwent brain surgery in October before hibernation. Now, with spring in the air, the brown bear emerged from semi-hibernation. It is "looking happy and healthy," according to his keepers. Sadly, the zoo workers at Wildwood Trust had no choice but to perform brain surgery on the animal.
An MRI scan found that Boki suffered from hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is a build-up of fluid in the brain, which can cause seizures as well as other symptoms. The animal needed the surgery to fix his condition. Brain surgery ended up lasting six hours. A surgeon placed a stent that extended from his brain to his abdomen.
Brown Bear Recovery
This allowed the animal to pass the excess fluid out of his brain. Although it is still relatively early, Jon Forde, head of bears at Wildwood, said that the animal made a remarkable recovery. However, the official noted that it was still early days.
"He's looking brilliant, happy and healthy and we haven't seen any negative signs from him. All his personality traits are still there, he's the same old Boki we love," he said.
Meanwhile, Forde said that he did well during hibernation. But he noted that the brown bear lost 66 pounds.
"We think it's because he's grown while he was asleep, so a lot of energy has been used for that. Our first job will be to put some weight back on him," he explained.
Boki has been in captivity since 2022. he was adopted after his mother rejected him.
Boki was adopted from Port Lympne Wild Animal Reserve in December 2022 after he was rejected by his mother. Mark Habben, head of zoo operations, said the brown bear made a "remarkable transformation".
"He's back to being the Boki we first met. It's like he's forgotten that he even had an operation," he said. "While the signs are very positive, we still need to proceed with caution and to take care with re-introducing him to Fluff and Scruff. This will involve boisterous play, which we want to minimise in these early stages post-surgery."
