A tiger tragically blinded by incessant camera flashes has been given a new lease on life after vets sewed his eyelids closed.
Firmin, who was virtually sightless upon arriving at La Taniere Zoo Refuge in 2019, had lived an existence as a show animal in Spain before being saved with his sister, Pam.
The relentless exposure to camera flashes from tourists had robbed him of nearly all his vision, which only worsened after his arrival in France, leading to the necessity for enucleation, or the removal of an eye, reports 20 Minutes.
Patrick Violas, co-founder of the zoo refuge, lamented: “When he arrived, Firmin was already 95% blind. He was very thin because, obviously, these animals there, when they are only used to make money, not many people take care of them.”
The beleaguered tiger first went under the knife in 2021, but subsequent complications including “perforating ulcers in one of the eyes” and glaucoma development were reported by Patrick.
A second surgery was scheduled for January 15th, where veterinarian Laurent Bouhanna concluded that the most compassionate option to spare Firmin further agony was to remove his eyes and stitch the eyelids closed, reports the Mirror.
Firmin, who was involved in photoshoots when he was young and is reportedly accustomed to being blind after being used for the purposes of entertainment, underwent the procedure to address the risk of infection.
In other news, a UK zoo has ramped up its security measures after a spate of break-ins at its gorilla enclosure, sparked by “false information” suggesting the animals were left abandoned.
The Bristol Zoo Project reported multiple trespassing incidents at the now-defunct Bristol Zoo Gardens in Clifton, with intruders breaching the gorilla habitat.
Fortunately, the gorillas, who are due to be relocated to a new environment at the Bristol Zoo Project later this year, were not reached by the intruders, but zookeepers warned that such events could be “really distressing” for the animals.
Meanwhile, Colchester Zoo was the scene of a shocking event earlier this month when a rhino fatally attacked a zebra in front of visitors within their shared enclosure.
Colchester Zoo released a statement saying: “At approximately 2pm today (10th Jan) there was an incident in our mixed species African habitat between a rhino and our male zebra and sadly the zebra has died.
“At this time we are directing our resources to make sure the rest of the animals in the habitat are settled.”
They added: “These sorts of incidents are extremely rare and we will continue to monitor the situation over the next few days. We are devastated by this loss and thank you for your understanding and support at this time.”
