Hi All,

You may have heard that Galatea, one of our female chimps at Monarto, broke her arm a couple of days ago. Not sure exactly how it happened; could have been collateral damage from boisterous displaying by the boys or simply an unfortunate misadventure.

Keepers first noticed the injury as they were let out to the exhibit to feed - so it was a while before they could get them back in... Galatea went around feeding as usual!

Keepers responded fantastically as always - they had Galatea separated from the group in very short time after getting the group back indoors. Oral sedation allowed us to anaesthetise her for xrays without any of the stresses typically associated with darting chimps.

Xrays confirmed our suspicions with both bones in her left forearm broken. Warren Foreman from the Adelaide Animal Hospital was brought in to lend his equipment and expertise to screw a plate onto the ulnar to stabilise the fracture. The fracture on the radius was less severe and should heal well without a plate given the parallel support of the repaired ulna bone.

We kept her confined in a crate overnight, under the watchful eye of keepers who stayed the night in the chimp house. We let her out into a night den in the morning and she promptly climbed up the caging onto a platform using both arms equally!

The keepers have introduced her back into the group, which so far has gone very smoothly.

See attached images of before and after xrays, and photo of Galatea before the incident.

The response from the whole team was fantastic. Galatea I'm sure appreciates everyone's efforts as well... in her own way!

Cheers

David
Veterinarian, Zoos South Australia