Tanda's new mask
Two-ton rhino, suffering from a chronic eye infection, has been fitted with a makeshift solution to its dangerous fly trouble.
"The flies lay eggs inside Tanda's eyes, carrying parasites which cause her great difficulty," Neta Gueta told Ynet from the Ramat Gan safari. "I treated her also at the zoo in Jerusalem and she has been battling this parasite non-stop for years."
Gueta, of the Zoological Center of Tel Aviv-Ramat Gan, helped design the mask that stops flies from laying eggs in the eye of the rhino named Tanda. Gueta said Tanda sometimes grew so frustrated with the infection and she rubbed her eye on rough tree bark, only exacerbating the problem.
"When her eyelid inflames, fluids cannot drain out, and the eye is clogged - we fear she may lost it completely - so she has the pleasure of undergoing daily rinses with sterile water, eye drops, antibiotics, and creams," Gueta added.
Treatment of such a large, potentially aggressive, animal requires cautious and alert staff. Zoo employees said that over the years they have had to anesthesize Tanda in order to operate on her eyes. Today, however, the staff can only ease Tanda's difficult symptoms.
Gueta credits the see-through mask with saving Tanda's vision after years of failed conventional therapy. She said the idea came from a device used for horses suffering from a similar condition.
The mask is made from "special netting built from special technology against insects so that files can't lay their eggs inside," Gueta said Tuesday. "They can stand on the netting but they can't lay their eggs."
Gueta explained that the zoo placed a priority on the rhino's wellbeing. "It's important to remember that Tanda is a very active rhino, who has been pregnant three times in recent years - she nursed her pups for a long time and it was important to give her antibiotics and medications, to make sure the parasite wasn't transferred to the offspring."
Fitting Tanda with the device posed multiple challenges, mainly because of her size, but Gueta thinks the rhino has ended up liking the new mask.
"At the end of the day I saw that she was cooperating entirely and she understands that this is for her good," Gueta said.
Tanda wears the mask in the morning hours but must lose its protection in the afternoon because of the heat. The zookeepers hope to have a new mask by this summer to provide her relief on the warm nights when flies are active.
