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Veterinarian doing well after surgery

Chang Po-yu, the veterinarian who had his left arm bitten off by a crocodile at Kaohsiung's Shoushan Zoo last month, waves to reporters yesterday as he is transferred from an intensive care unit to a normal hospital bed. PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES

The veterinarian whose left forearm was bitten off by a crocodile at Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung City has left intensive care with his reattached arm in good condition, his surgeon said.

"He has told me he doesn't hold a grudge against the crocodile," said Lin Gau-tyan (林高田), orthopedic surgeon and part of the medical team at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital that helped reunite Chang Po-yu (張博宇) with his mauled arm.

Contrary to initial news reports that the crocodile had been shot and killed, it continues to live at Shoushan Zoo after the April 11th incident.

Chang mistakenly administered antibiotics instead of a tranquilizer to the crocodile and after reaching into its cage the croc bit off his left arm 5cm below the elbow, Lin said.

Images of the bloody arm lying in the crocodile's mouth made the front pages of the newspapers the next day.

The case presented more difficulties than most reattachments, Lin said.

"Because the crocodile tore off his arm, it is not as clean as most amputations we deal with, mostly involving machine accidents," he said.

"It was much more difficult to deal with the ragged muscle, nerve and skin tissue in this case. The surgery was also complicated by potential bacterial infection from the crocodile's mouth," he said.

A team of two orthopedic surgeons and three cosmetic surgeons took turns to operate on Chang, who has had six operations on his arm to date. A crisis point occurred ten days after the accident when blood clots formed inside the arm which required microsurgery. Since then Chang's recovery has been smooth, Lin said, but Chang still has a long way to go before before he can regain the use of his left hand.

"Blood circulation is now not a problem," Lin said. "But the nerves take longer to come back."

Chang is undergoing physiotherapy to exercise his hand passively in the hope that he will one day be able to control it again. More surgery could be on the cards to aid the process.

However, even before his recovery is complete, Chang is champing at the bit to get back to work.

"I talked to him about when he would like to go back to work," Lin, said, "He joked `Monday morning.'"
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