Veterinary Surgeon Treats The Teeth Of Endangered Wild Animals
A vet from Sudbury, who is used to treating the teeth of household pets has gone abroad to help treat endangered animals with pain and dental issues.
Gerhard Putter, the owner of Mulberry Court Veterinary Surgery, has just come back from spending 2 weeks in Java treating slow lorises, working with the charity organisation International Animal Rescue. There are just two UK vets that have been chosen for the mission due to their highly skilled training in treating dental problems in animals.
Nocturnal primates that are on the highly endangered list are regularly captured and sold illegally. Traders who capture the animals often take out some of the slow lorises teeth and can cause wounds that do not heal. Mr Putter said that the wild animals kept in captivity and those sold through the illegal pet trade have dental problems which also affect their overall health.
These animals have almost the same nerves in their mouths as humans so they suffer in the same way that humans would with dental pain. The main reason for the trip was to alleviate the slow lorises dental problems and pain so that hopefully at some point they can be released back into the wild.
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