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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3927347.stm

Doctor helps out at orang-utan birth

Consultant gynaecologist Neil Maclachlan has clocked up a career first -
delivering an orang-utan.

Because humans and apes are very similar anatomically Jersey Zoo asked the
consultant, who works at nearby Jersey General Hospital, if he would help
with the difficult birth.

And bouncing baby boy Jaya - meaning 'important or famous' in Sumatran - was
born weighing a healthy 4lbs (1.86kg)

The hospital and zoo have close links and in the past other doctors have set
animals' broken legs, given second opinions on unusual cases and helped with
blood tests and imaging.

But caesarean sections on great apes are very rare and this is only the
second time that the procedure has been carried out in Jersey - the last
time was 14 years ago.

Mr Maclachlan, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician, said he had been
delighted to help - the birth had been an exciting break from his routine
human births.

"It is a really interesting part of our work," he said.

"The relationship we have with the zoo is that we do not interfere, but if
the zoo requests our help we will be there to help them.

"We learn from the staff at the zoo and they learn from us."

Troubles unexpected

Mr Maclachlan said the birth had not been expected to be a problem because
mum Gina, who is a very popular ape at the zoo, had already had five
trouble-free pregnancies.

But as she tried to deliver Jaya, vet Javier Lopez noticed Gina was
struggling and called for Mr Maclachlan to examine her more closely.

Mr Maclachlan said: "I noticed that she had a swelling in her vulva.

"They asked her to climb up onto her den and she hung there so that I could
see her underneath. They got her to stay there by feeding her grapes.

"I was worried about her. I thought she might have an infection, but it was
not an infection - it was an obstructive labour.

"In humans you would find this out by using a scanner, but with an ape you
have to dart them with tranquilisers and put them to sleep.

"So Javier darted her and we put her on the zoo's operating table. I found
she was placenta praevia (where the placenta blocks the birth canal) and I
knew we either had to operate or let her die.

"So we did a section."

Expert help 

Mr Maclachlan took two anaesthetists from the hospital with him to operate
on Gina, who is in her 40s. While anaesthetist Chad Taylor worked on Jaya,
his colleague Gari Purcell-Jones cared for Gina.

But because Gina had to be so heavily anesthetised Jaya did not breathe
properly for some time.

"They put Jaya in a space blanket and when he started to cry everyone was
very emotional."

Following Jaya's birth the hospital team helped a macaque, a smaller ape,
who had a retained placenta, which needed removing.

Mr Lopez said that although he and his staff were perfectly capable of doing
caesarean sections on the animals, they did not do them often and they
preferred to get help from specialists.

And he said that because Jersey is such a little and friendly island that it
had been easy for the hospital and the zoo to form good and lasting bonds.

"We have a good relationship with the hospital and the local vets because
being an island you can very quickly reach people you need to help and over
the years we have asked for a number of second opinions.

"It was brilliant of Neil to come and help and the other doctors. He reacted
quickly to the developing problem.

"The hospital staff have always been brilliantly supportive of us.

"We do C-sections at the zoo ourselves as well, but you want to give your
animals the best chance you can and if you can get someone to operate on
them who does this every day then that is what you do."

Happy ending 

Mr Lopez said that mum and baby ape were now doing fine.

"She is the perfect mother and she has had lots of experience," he said.

"After she had first had the operation she looked at the baby as if to say
that is nice, but do take it away and then when the pain went she grabbed
him and suckled him she has a very strong maternal instinct.

"Just two or three days after the operation she was up and about."

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (which helps manage endangered species
at the zoo) said that it had been a tense time, but said the outcome had
been fantastic, not only for the zoo, but for the species which is
critically endangered in the wild.

Head of Mammals Richard Johnstone Scott said: "With a species as endangered
as the Sumatran orang-utan, every new baby born is an important boost to the
captive breeding population."



Sumatran orangs

-The Sumatran orang-utan is critically endangered
-It only survives in a few isolated areas of forest in northern Sumatra
-Logging has played a key role in the loss of its natural habitat
-Only about 7,000 of this species survive and some experts are predicting
that they will become extinct in the wild within just five years.