Five vets operate on sedated 17-stone tiger for ‘tricky’ paw operation

“She’ll hopefully be back to her playful self again very quickly,” vets say

Vets and wildlife park staff carry out a delicate operation to remove an ingrown toenail from Tschuna, a 17-stone Amur Tiger, at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster (PA)

A 17-stone Amur tiger is recovering after undergoing a delicate operation to remove an ingrown toenail, staff at Yorkshire Wildlife Park have said.

Tschuna, a 15-year-old Amur tiger, underwent the procedure after keepers noticed she was limping.

Head of carnivores Bex Brown said the team were able to identify the issue by asking Tschuna to stand up and put her paws on the mesh.

Vets then injected Tschuna with a short-lasting general anaesthetic to ease the procedure. Staff said she is now "getting back to her playful self".

The operation, which took less than 15 minutes, involved vets gently clipping off a claw on Tschuna’s front left paw to stop the risk of infection and remove the discomfort.

Tschuna, a 17-stone Amur Tiger, who as undergone a delicate operation to remove an ingrown toenail at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster (Yorkshire Wildlife Park)

“Tiger anaesthetics are particularly tricky, so it was a quick procedure to ensure everyone involved, including Tschuna, was safe,” said Dr Charlotte MacDonald, director of animals at the park.

“Tschuna came back round relatively quickly and should have a speedy recovery, though she probably has a bit of a headache from the anaesthetic.

“We’re keeping her in the house at first to recover fully and then she’ll hopefully be back to her playful self again very quickly.”

Ms Brown said: “Any anaesthetic there would always be an element of nerves, it’s something we always want to try and avoid, but trying to trim it would have caused her pain, she wouldn’t have allowed us to do that. Leaving it would have been painful and uncomfortable for her.

“Also, because we don’t sedate them often at all, it was a good opportunity to give her a full MOT while she was asleep.”

Tschuna arrived at the park in 2013 as part of an international breeding programme to help support the species, also known as Siberian tigers, which came close to extinction as numbers dwindled to around 30.

She gave birth to three cubs at the park in 2015 – one of them, Hector, has become a father at Cleveland Zoo in the US – and it is hoped she will partner with three-year-old male Altai, who arrived at the park earlier this year, to produce more cubs as part of the European Endangered Species Programme.

Ms Brown said Tschuna is “a princess”, adding: “If we present her food she often puts the food on her other paw rather than off the ground.”