Popular
resident seal gets expert care
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| Tori is not a candidate for release due to her health issues. |
Suffering from a ruptured globe resulting in blindness in her left eye, ultimately it was determined that Mystic Aquarium would be her forever home.
Joining
Mystic Aquarium’s social group of harbor seals, Tori’s overall health has been
good. Over the years; however, she has also developed ocular disease in her
right eye.
Like
all the marine mammals, birds and reptiles at Mystic Aquarium, Tori receives
health assessments and preventative examinations each month by the veterinary
team. But it is often the day-to-day interaction and bond with trainers that
provides the most insight into their health and behavior.
“I noticed that Tori was keeping both of her eyes closed more often and for extended periods of time throughout her day-to-day activities,” said Lindsey Nelson, Senior Trainer of Cetaceans & Pinnipeds and Tori’s lead Trainer. “Since closing her eyes, tightly at times, is a sign of discomfort, we wanted to look into options to help alleviate her discomfort.”
Unfortunately
after a regimen of medication administered by the veterinarian did not seem to
work, Dr. Jen Flower, Chief Clinical Veterinarian, began to explore surgical
options.
It
was determined that Tori’s right eye, affected with ocular disease, could be
treated with the surgical placement of conjunctival flap over the cornea. In
laymen’s terms, a flap of tissue was created from her own eyelid to help
provide long term protection and healing to her eye. The conjunctival flap will
remain indefinitely.
“This
new tissue will restore the integrity of Tori’s cornea and bring new blood
vessels to the area which will enable the cornea to heal and eliminate the
discomfort,” said Dr. Flower. “We also placed a medicated implant under
the right eyelid that will allow the slow release of medication over several
months. Tori will not need the application of eye drops as a result.”
And
because of the earlier injury, the globe of her non-functioning eye had begun
to shrink also causing discomfort.
Having
become evident that the left eye would need to be removed as well, Dr. Flower
and her team made the decision to do both required surgeries at one time while
Tori would already be under general anesthesia.
“Tori’s
well-being is our number one priority,” added Dr. Flower. “We wanted to ensure
that she could live her life here at Mystic Aquarium happy and healthy.”
The
three-hour surgery took place in Mystic Aquarium’s new surgical suite in the
John T. and Jane A. Weiderhold Foundation Veterinary and Animal Health Center
and was a collaborative effort by a number of animal care professionals
including Mystic Aquarium’s team, boarded veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Ruth
Marrion and boarded veterinary anesthesiologist Dr. James Bailey.
Dr.
Marrion, a native of East Lyme, is a staff ophthalmologist at Bulger Veterinary
Hospital in North Andover, Mass. She provides regular veterinary ophthalmology
services to Mystic Aquarium. Dr. James runs Innovative Veterinary Medicine in
Ponte Vedra, FL. He, too, regularly consults with Mystic Aquarium on marine
mammal anesthesia cases.
Following
the procedure, as is standard protocol, veterinary intern Dr. Melissa Joblon
spent the night monitoring Tori.
Dr.
Joblon spent several hours outside of the ‘dry dock’ behind-the-scenes of the
Pacific Northwest exhibit (before taking a nap in her office). In total, Tori
was under direct supervision of animal care professionals for 24 hours; again
following Mystic Aquarium protocol.
“Now
over a month post-op, Tori is doing great,” said Nelson. “She is still able to
see around the flap and is adjusting to her new eyesight. She is no
longer keeping her eye closed and is swimming around and locomoting on land
very well.”
Tori
is reexamined by Mystic’s vet staff regularly and by Dr. Marrion every two
weeks. Currently, she is in a pool off exhibit “mostly for population
dynamics and enrichment” according to Dr. Flower, but is expected to be back in
the Pacific Northwest exhibit to greet guests shortly.
“This
has given me a new outlook on training,” added Nelson. “We rely a lot on the
vision of our animals in order to communicate with them. However, with
Tori’s vision impairment, it has made me think outside the box to ensure that I
am communicating with her in the best way possible. We have worked very
hard on transferring many of Tori’s visual signals for behaviors to verbal
signals.”
Tori’s
success story –from the Animal Rescue Program through this surgery- speaks to
Mystic Aquarium’s commitment to animals and conservation.
“Being
able to provide Tori with a new lease on life –not once but twice- highlights
just how dedicated not only our training staff, but more importantly our vet
staff is to the animals in our care. I look forward to sharing this with guests
for years to come,” concluded Nelson.
