FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – One of Fort Wayne Zoo’s most popular animals is now an ambassador for conservation in our own backyards.
Penny the ostrich had to have a wing amputated after she broke it during a procedure to get a plactic cup out of her long neck. The trash somehow got into her habitat in the African Velt and the curious bird tried to swallow it.
The case of the curious ostrich at Fort Wayne Zoo
“Penny is such a curious bird. I think that’s what’s so amazing about ostriches. But unfortunately, was too curious and swallowed something she shouldn’t have,” the zoo’s staff veterinarian Caitlin Hemby said. “Her initial procedure was to remove that cup from her esophagus, and the procedure went well. But unfortunately, there was the complication of her hitting her wing during that anesthetic procedure.”
A bone in her wing broke.
“It was really the perfect angle and the perfect force. Unfortunately, that caused the fracture,” Hemby explained.
Curious ostrich at Fort Wayne Zoo recovers from amputation
The break was in her humerus, or that big bone in the arm. It was fractured near the end by the elbow, close to a joint.
The zoo’s veterinary staff considered all the options of treatment:…