Vet surgeons gather to save Ruby

Doctors will try risky C-section on elephant

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Zoo's beloved Ruby faces risky C-section (11/3) Ruby the elephant loses baby (11/2)

By Bob Petrie
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 5, 1998

An Illinois veterinarian will head the six-member team being assembled by Phoenix Zoo officials to perform a Caesarean section on Ruby, the painting Asian elephant.

Dr. Joe Fourner of Chicago will be the chief consulting veterinarian, zoo officials said Wednesday. The support team will include Phoenix veterinarians Dr. Scott Taylor and Dr. Ed Voss, along with their associates. Three other doctors will round out the team.

Also assisting will be zoo veterinarians Dr. Kathy Orr and Dr. Laura Lodwick, along with staff elephant keepers.

Ruby, a favorite of zoo patrons for 25 years, lost her baby last week, and officials have decided to try a C-section to remove the dead fetus, a procedure that in Asian elephants has never been successful.

Four documented operations in the past have resulted in the death of all four elephants.

Meanwhile, Ruby is being put on a 24-hour fast to prepare her for the surgery, which could take place as early as Friday, or wait until early next week.

"She does seem to be stable," said Aimee Barwegen, a zoo spokeswoman. "She is less lethargic."

The 9,000-pound elephant is now on antibiotics and resting in her enclosure. Many of Ruby's well-wishers have been signing a get-well card, attached to the fence outside the elephant viewing area.

A candlelight vigil for Ruby is planned for 7 p.m. Friday in the parking lot outside the zoo entrance.

"This surgery is not routine, and it is not performed in a hospital for obvious reasons, so we're working hard to create the most sterile, clinical environment possible," said Bruce Bohmke, the zoo's general curator.

Because Ruby must be in a reclining position to undergo the surgery, zoo officials are getting the cage area ready.

Tires and mattresses were donated to the zoo to help create a bedded area. Large towels will be used as gauze, and nylon rope will help secure Ruby during surgery.

Area hospitals have donated medical supplies, including autoclave services and gas sterilization, along with the antibiotics.

A crane may be brought in to position Ruby before surgery.

"It's going to be quite an ordeal," Barwegen said.

Ruby was 22 months pregnant, the normal elephant gestation period, when veterinarians decided last week to begin administering oxytocin to induce labor.

On Friday, Ruby's water broke. On Saturday, after advice from several national elephant care experts, the veterinarians performed a surgical procedure to determine the position of Ruby's calf.

During the exam, doctors discovered the dead calf in the birth canal.

On Monday, the zoo decided to try the C-section, rather than risk Ruby to a possible fatal infection by leaving the dead calf inside her.

Ruby became famous over the past decade for her paint doodles on canvas, the lithograph sales of which have raised a half million dollars for the zoo.