THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The sterilisation procedure which came in handy in Thrissur zoo, where the bonnet macaque enclosures were populated to the brim, has now picked the second prize at the 7th Kerala Science Congress held at Wynad.
It was a minimally invasive procedure for sterilising bonnet macaques, which got Dr Dilip Falgunan, then a postgraduate student at Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), the prize. “Two 2 mm incisions are all that need to be made in this procedure,” he says.
The two bonnet macaque enclosures at the zoo had close to 120 inmates. The large-sized cuts in normal surgical procedures would not have worked in this case, as it would have been difficult to heal. “Moreover, bonnet macaques tend to mutilate their own bodies. So it would have been extremely difficult,” says Dr Jacob Alexander, the veterinarian surgeon at Thiruvananthapuram zoo.
The bonnet macaques at Thrissur zoo were mostly inbred, and therefore had little conservation value, says Dr Dilip. “Most zoos are not ready to take bonnet macaques in exchange. Their growing population was a concern. That’s when the procedure was carried out,” he says. Seventeen of the bonnet macaques were given to the zoos at Delhi and Lucknow. Dr Dilip says that the procedure can be used even for the wild Bonnet Macaques.