Press Photo Vets Perform Surgery Mandayu African Elephant Broken Leg San Diego

Back With The Pack After An Elephant Operation: When a 7,000 pound adult elephant breaks a leg it can be fatal. In the wild a stricken elephant may not fall prey to anything, but probably it can't reach food or water. But when Mandavu, a 12 year old female African bush elephant in the San Diego Wild Animal Park in California, fell into a most last September and fractured her right rear leg she also fell into good hands. After an extremely risks 3 1/2 hour operation in which her leg was pinned together with a special one inch diameter pin, Mandavu is now strong enough to return to her fellow seven elephants in the hard. A special fiberglass wrap was used to encase the injured leg. Surgical equipment used included handsaws and power drills. Mandavu's is the first elephant leg to be successfully healed through a bone pinning method. Photo shows a large team of vets, keepers, doctors, technicians and engineers gathered in October for the 3 1/2 hours of surgery.

Photo measures 10 x 8 inches.

Photo is dated --none.

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