10-Sep-08 10:00 AM CST

Vet Works on Elephants in South Africa

Hallie Woods For Loveland Connection
September 10, 2008

Deep in the bush of South Africa, Dr. Dean Hendrickson finally has his surgical routine down: Hoist up the elephant, make a 4-inch incision, make a couple snips, and suture the elephant back up.

Hendrickson, the interim director of the CSU vet hospital, is the surgeon on a four-person team from Disney’s Animal Kingdom in San Diego that ventures into the reserves of South Africa to perform vasectomies male elephants.

“We in the U.S. have the perspective that there are too few elephants,” he said. In actuality, some reserves in Africa are over-populated with elephants that are often destructive to the natural habitat.

“The question under debate is ‘do we have too many, or have we taken away from the animal’s natural territories?’” he said.

Because of Hendrick-son’s experience in equine laparoscopy — surgery using a camera-like system to make the procedure minimally invasive — he was selected to join the team.

After trying to spay female elephants in June 2004, the team headed back to Africa in February 2005 to begin attempting to neuter bull, or male, elephants.

“It was exciting because we were going somewhere that no one had ever gone before and doing something no one had ever done,” Hendrickson said.

Male elephants are the only land mammals that store their testicles inside their abdomen, Hendrickson said, which makes the surgery more difficult.

The team begins by shooting a tranquilizer dart at a bull elephant from a helicopter.
The elephant is then hoisted into an upright position with a crane and a small 4-inch incision is made in the animal’s side.

Using a laparoscope, Hendrickson snips a part of each side of the vas deferens and sutures the animal back up. Anesthesia, which is delivered through a catheter in the elephant’s ears, is stopped, and the elephant wakes up, standsand runs off.

The procedure, which used to take about four hours, now takes about two.
The team has returned every summer, and most recently visited Aug. 7. About 16 elephants have been neutered, and a South African veterinarian was trained to do the job.

“We’ve gotten to the point that it’s no longer a research project but a viable option (for birth control),” Hendrickson said.

The team hopes to continue the process until more local veterinarians are trained.

“It’s been an astounding experience,” Hendrickson said.