Surgeons at the Wild Cat Sanctuary in Northern Minnesota recently performed a very delicate procedure - on a lion.
Inside the operating room at the Wild Cat Sanctuary in Sandstone, a lion is having a vasectomy. Yes, a vasectomy.
"So this particular patient is a two-and-a-half year old lion, Kiros," says executive director Tammy Thies.
She says as part of all intakes, they give animals an exam and then spade or neuter them. But not this guy.
"If we neutered him, he would drop his mane because the testosterone change," Thies explains.
And that would be devastating.
"In the wild, it means a lot because the ones with the largest mane, the darkest manes, will be the head of the pride," Thies adds.
She says Kiros lived by himself for two and a half years, and it's going to take some time to get him socialized. The lion was rescued from a roadside zoo in Canada that had closed.
"It's going to take some time to get him socialized because he's already has some strikes against him, learning some lion social skills, but he's getting better and better every day," Thies told WCCO's Susie Jones.
She says they were able to rescue some of his family members as well, and they are getting him ready for a reunion.
The sanctuary currently is home to about 150 wild cats on the sanctuary's 220 acres. The majority of their cats originated from backyard breeders and were either abandoned or surrendered to the sanctuary by their owners.
