Surgery to save a black bear with a swollen tongue like a balloon

The surgery offers a second chance for a black bear whose tongue weighs three kilograms, so big that it has to drag on the ground.

A veterinarian at Edinburgh University collaborates with Southeast Asian bear rescue organizations to operate the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) . The young bear named Nyan htoo was rescued from an illegal trade line in Myanmar with his sister, Live Science reported on October 24.

Nyan htoo before surgery.(Photo: SWNS).

However, Nyan htoo's tongue began to swell. In 2016, veterinarians in Myanmar performed an operation to remove the enlarged tissue, but the inflammation recurred. In June 2017, the tongue as big as a ball made Nyan htoo unable to hold it. The blade dragged on the ground as the bear played, often wiping its teeth, forcing the bear to lie its head to one side of the cage.

Veterinary surgeon Hannah Bacon at the University of Edinburgh collaborates with nurse Caroline Nelson at the Bear Rescue Center of Animals Asia in Vietnam and Romain Pizzi from Wildlife Surgery International to plan a second surgery. After more than 4 hours, the experts successfully cut off the swollen tongue three kilograms of Nyan htoo. According to the surgery group, the bear is recovering well.

Postoperative pathological research shows that the swollen tongue may be the result of elephantiasis , causing the tissue to swell by parasitic worms transmitted through mosquito bites. Worms block the lymphatic fluid (lymph). However, elephant leg edema has never been recorded in previous bears.