Last year a joyful event happened in the Irkutsk zoo. A little raccoon cub was born. The baby was named Marta, and she was born quite healthy. But after a few weeks the staff of the zoo began to notice that the animal was rapidly losing its vision. Martha was bumping into objects around her, and soon she stopped seeing altogether.
Local veterinarians refused to treat the raccoon, arguing that they had no such experience. Then the zoo's staff decided to ask for help from specialists in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But they did not have enough money for transportation and treatment.
Fortunately the way out was found! The local Eye Microsurgery Clinic agreed to take care of the animal's vision. Surgeon Marina Shanturova undertook the operation on the raccoon, completely free of charge! Last year she also operated on a bear cub with cataract.
The doctors concluded that the only way to restore the eyesight was to replace the affected lens with an artificial one.
The difficulty was that the raccoon's eye structure differs from that of a human. The doctors consulted with colleagues from all over Russia, but no one had similar experience!
The operation took place at the beginning of February. It lasted about 2.5 hours! "The surgery on the first eye was complicated - the cataract there was more advanced. In addition, there were nuances in the anesthesia. We coped with this difficult situation, and the surgery on the second eye flew by unnoticed", - said the doctors.
Marta survived the operation well. The doctors gently took her out of anesthesia - stroking, massaging and giving her a gentle squeeze. Marta went home a little later. After such operations vision returns only after some time, so the next month passed with anxiety. Fortunately, the result exceeded all expectations! Martha can see perfectly now! The animal has excellent spatial orientation. The doctors made an examination and confirmed that her eyesight had almost completely been restored! Thanks to the golden hands of Irkutsk ophthalmologists, Martha is back to her happy and carefree life!
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