As little is known about the anatomy of the rhino‚ putting a 700kg wild animal under anaesthesia sparked the nerves of wildlife surgeon Dr Johan Marais. Reputed to be a first of its kind‚ the arthroscopy on Pablo‚ a young white rhino bull‚ saw Marais and a team of doctors “carefully going in and exploring” the damage done after he was shot a few months ago.The three-year-old rhino was shot in an unsuccessful poaching attempt at a private game reserve. Pieces of bone were removed from the rhino’s carpal joint and an extensive amount of cartilage damage and clear signs of osteoarthritis were found during the operation at Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital‚ Marais said on Wednesday.Speaking to TMG Digital‚ the veterinary surgeon added that it was a matter of “figuring out the anatomy as we go” and the aim was to keep Pablo on the table for as short a time as possible.“Putting an animal of this size under anaesthesia ... is in itself a massive risk.“It's one of the reasons I was actually quite nervous.“I also always say to people that we lose over 1000 rhino a year‚ and we actually don’t know much about the basics about them‚” Marais said.Saving The Survivors spokesperson‚ Liryn de Jager‚ said that Pablo spent approximately two hours in theatre.When he was moved back to the transport vehicle afterwards‚ the team had to wait for him to wake up before the trip back to his home could commence.“It was quite dark when he got there and we were told that he wasted no time in getting out.“All in all‚ he seems to be doing well. The staff at the reserve will monitor him closely over the next few weeks‚” she said.According to Marais‚ the complications involved in operating on a wild animal are almost incomparable to a domesticated animal or human being. While surgeons are able to run clinical examinations on domesticated animals or human beings the night before‚ or the morning of a surgery‚ this is not possible for wild animals.“Ideally we would need to take blood from them and test the blood to see if there is any kind of infection.“We would then starve the animal because there are significant complications with it eating and then going under anaesthesia.“But none of this can be done on a wild animal.“Wildlife vets don’t have the luxury of knowing the condition of the animal until it is under anaesthesia‚ and that’s why many wild animals die while they are under anaesthesia‚” he said. While De Jager noted that some have questioned the worth of putting in so much effort into one rhino‚ she says it is their aim to “put every rhino possible back into the gene pool if we want to make sure of the species’ survival”.Marais concluded that the surgery was a success and he would be eager and prepared to perform it on other rhino in the future.“Some might have questioned why we saved this male‚ as in the wild females are seen as more valuable‚ but I can say it was worth it and that we will now use this as a learning curve.“The next time this happens to a female‚ I am not going to think twice before operating‚ whereas yesterday I did question whether or not it was worth it‚ but by doing this I have learnt so much‚” he said...