Janani can walk now!

Gesture of humanity

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

It would have been one of those sad stories reflecting the harsh reality of life if compassion, dedication coupled with the advance discoveries of medicine had not intervened. A team of experts connected to the veterinary field recently got together to proclaim that they not only fixed a prosthesis to a leg of a heifer but that the project proved to be a tremendous success.

Janani with Dr. Uthpala Ratnayake and Bandara Menike

After fixing the prosthesis

Before the prosthesis was fixed

The four year old calf, born to a six year old cow who was calved three times on Artificial Insemination (AI), had been born with deformity in all four legs. Not be left behind as calves its age skipped around the field moving after each other, Janani was eager to follow in the best way that it was permitted, by walking on hock joints. It truly was a pitiful sight for the cattle owner, Bandara Menike of Rambukkana.

As time lapsed the owner soon noted that the calf's affected joints in the legs formed wounds due to the fact that the animal, being frisky at the age, refused to remain still.

The situation came to Rambukkana Government Veterinary surgeon Dr. Uthpala Ratnayake's notice and she soon fixed a locally made splint with bamboo to assist the calf to walk.

Young and eager to learn to follow its mates, Janani soon took to the newly introduced material which aided to follow its friends at a slower pace.

Through close monitoring Dr. Ratnayake together with Bandara Menike kept track on the calf's progress and improved on the structure of the bamboo splint as the needs arose.

When the calf was around three months it was able to manage walking on three legs. However the right rear leg was still shorter and when used for walking it was still painful for the little one as the newly healing wounds were showing signs of irritation.

The same splint was applied to this leg as well so that the leg avoided contact with the ground. The calf was well looked after and given daily exercise with the bamboo splint on the right rear leg and as it was growing fast, there were alarming signs of the spine becoming crooked and the hind quarters lowering.

This turn of events lead Dr. Ratnayake to approach Senior lecturer in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Peradeniya, Dr. Asoka Dangolla.

Together the two veterinary practitioners decided to try their hand at fixing an artificial limb to the heifer so that it will face less difficulties in the future.

The Kandy Rotary Club aided the project together with the Dogstar Foundation and the Lions Club Kandy Hill Capital. The height, length and circumference of the right rear affected leg were taken and an appropriate artificial leg, similar to the bamboo splint was made by a human prosthesis company in Kandy.

Anura Ratmalsinghe , the manager of the premises of the Kandy Rotary Club anchored the leather straps of the artificial leg to the heifer under the instructions of the two veterinary experts.

"Some local and foreign surgeons have tried to fix a prosthesis to an elephant in Pinnawala but they have failed as the animal had trashed around, rejecting the leg which had been fixed to his joint. It did not undergo a training process and to top it all it was from the wilderness so it was impossible to get even close let alone train it to walk aided by the prosthesis. Though the gesture was done through pure sympathy, we may do more harm than good if we try to use this method for wild animals.

The process can be completed successfully if you follow certain guidelines. The training period is the key to the gradual acceptance of the artificial joint which will be attached to a part of the animal's body," Dr. Dangolla explained. "There is a general belief that local veterinary doctors are either health oriented or production oriented. Vets are also taught to be concerned about the animals' welfare.

Though vets practice this method it is not oblivious. Even if this calf was allowed to remain on bamboo stilts, it would have survived though with much difficulties and a crooked spine," he stressed adding that the calf was eager to accept any device which aided it to walk. Training should to be done by a person who is familiar to the animal. After a week the vertebral column became normal and the calf was able to walk normally. The artificial leg needs to be modified throughout one and a half years as the calf grows up into a fully grown cow.

"We will keep on monitoring Janani but by now she has got used to managing the prosthesis. The equipment is a bit expensive but there are some compassionate individuals in the society who wish to work towards the welfare of animals. It is very touching as well as encouraging," Dr. Ratnayake opined.

"I got a call from Palmadulla recently on a similar case and I am hoping to look into the matter.

This is also regarding a cow and it goes to show that people are not totally ignorant about animal welfare," Dr. Dangolla concluded with the satisfaction that all the members of the team felt as they watched young Janani taking careful but determined strides along the greenish fields of the Rambukkana landscape.