In what many are calling a first, a male sea lion shot by a fisherman underwent surgery to fix two gaping holes in his nose, allowing him to once again hunt. This operation is being heralded as the first plastic surgery on a sea lion and was performed by Dr. Praful Ramenini, a Washington, D.C. surgeon who specializes in gunshot wounds. Dr. Ramenini volunteered his services for this remarkable event.
Details of Operation
According to 
the San Francisco Chronicle, the sea lion was corralled by rescuers in December at Knights Landing, a delta community in Yolo County. As the gunshot wound through his nose prevented him from diving because his nose would fill with water, he was starving and 300 pounds underweight.
On Friday at 10am, the sea lion was wheeled in a steel cage to the vet clinic at Discovery Kingdom. Doctors gave him an injection of Versed, a sedative given to humans before surgery and then waited as the sea lion took 45 minutes to nod off. What was going through the sea lions brain is anyone's guess.
The doctors were so afraid of waking him they decided to keep him in the cage and operate on him there. With a dozen technicians holding flashlights and handing over instruments, doctors peeled back the skin on his face and stitched it back together, closing the quarter-sized holes on his nose with extra-thick, dissolvable sutures. By noon, the sea lion was awake, lolling his head upwards and enjoying a dousing of cold water from a garden hose. Staff wheeled him back to the park's Seal Cove, where he'll recuperate in a quiet area for a few days before rejoining his cove-mates and entertaining the public.
Worth the Time and Money?
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Comments: 6
As for the Sea Lions, I agree, they don't really have choices per se and to those ends, the "HUMANe" thing to do would be to care for them.