[2022/02/16, 08:12:53] Bossie : 2022/02/16, 08:14:29] Ulf Tubessing: What happened to these poor guys? [2022/02/16, 08:19:35] Chuma: I see a wire snare over the open wound in left hind limb of the rhino which is seemingly to be no more! How painful it was? So sad indeed. [2022/02/16, 08:20:10] Chuma: Where was this and when did it happen? [2022/02/16, 08:20:59] Bossie: The calf can still walk – a good blood supply is still there. I will monitor her, but have treated for now. This looks like a farm fence rather than a snare. [2022/02/16, 09:06:56] Bossie: The irony is there is not a single barb wire fence on the whole farm [2022/02/16, 09:08:59] Michelle Otto: Urg, it makes you wonder how much more hidden 'gems' are lying hidden in the veld from previous owners. Good luck with her – it’s going to be a long recovery. At least it looks like the ligaments are still intact? [2022/02/16, 09:10:05] Heather Nixon: Laser therapy really promotes faster healing if you have one near and going to immobilize. [2022/02/16, 09:10:09] Bossie: She is only a 2,5 out of 5 lameness score with all of that, but fully weight bearing. [2022/02/16, 09:11:47] Bossie: Thank you. I will monitor her as much as we can. She is on a larger open area, but her condition is good so at least that counts in her favour [2022/02/16, 09:15:00] Jacques ODell: Chris, please keep us updated on the calf’s recovery. There seems to be good granulation. I wonder how much scar tissue will develop and whether the constriction in that area will influence perfusion. I once had a giraffe with a similar lesion and the constricting scar tissue caused the foot to swell to such a degree that is was non-weight bearing. [2022/02/17, 22:08:33] JW Eksteen: Yes Bossie I had a similar case, it healed perfectly. Check the stages of wound healing. I think there is hope. See photos below. Note to self : Dont just take external visible wire off. Make sure there is no wire left deep in the flesh. Palpate wound with a finger tip, or take X-rays. [2022/02/17, 22:17:52] Johan: Incredible [2022/02/18, 03:49:06] Ulf Tubessing: Bloody farmers "duct tape" in excess scrap on every game farm following sloppy removal of old fences on game ranches [2022/02/18, 06:14:16] Johan Kriek: 👍👍👍 [2022/02/18, 06:18:56] Pierre Nel: JW, did you keep it closed until full healing occurred or left it open in later stage? [2022/02/18, 06:28:14] Bossie: Thank you JW. That one also looked nasty. This one luckily has not cut deep, but all the skin has been removed in a large area. The grass is just so long here that no one picked it up early, as no one could see the legs. This was only identified when the animal started limping slightly. I had one with a wire snare (similar to the pictures you send) on a wildlife sanctuary where I did horn trimming and the people on the sanctuary did not even know the bull (1 of only 3 rhino on property) had a snare. [2022/02/18, 07:37:19] Mark Jago: This is an excellent series of pictures. If possible, I would be very interested to know the approximate time frame of the healing process. Thank you. [2022/02/18, 08:02:21] Mike Toft: Hi Bossie, I have had 5-6 similar lesions in black and white rhino - all but one healed, albeit with a large degree of scarring. The one that didn’t make it had damaged the flexor tendons which ruptured about 2 weeks after the snare was removed. The rest took anything from 2-8 months to heal with one or two knockdowns to check and clean out. [2022/02/18, 08:04:55] Bossie: Cool. Thank you. All tendons in this case are still good and have good weight bearing. The animals are just a little lame and slow moving, but will have a look next week (just observing - no knock down if all goes as it should). [2022/02/18, 21:53:42] JW Eksteen: Hi Pierre. I closed it initially for 4 days, then put on a new dressing for another 7 days. It was then left open. There was no boma available, so it was veld treatment only. I believe movement of the leg through ‘clean’ grass helps to clean the wound continuously and naturally hasten the debriding process, and promotes the formation of new healthy granulation tissue and wound healing. [2022/02/18, 21:59:22] JW Eksteen: Hi Mark. I will have to go back and check the dates they were photographed. What I can tell you is the complete healing process took about 2 months. It was interesting to see the stages of wound healing, and was exactly what they taught us as students [2022/02/19, 08:39:56] Mark Jago: Many thanks for that JW. It is remarkable that such a severe wound heals so well in just 2 months.
