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Why is a zebra living at Keith Forgie’s house?
his premature birth. “The hooves were still soft,” Forgie said. “Like gel, almost, so he couldn’t really stand.” The harness kept Mel off his feet and al- lowed his hooves to finish hardening plus giving the two useless extra toes time to drop off. Six weeks after he was born in early Sep- tember, Mel returned home to Papanack Zoo. And moved into the Forgie house across the road because he still needs to re- main separate from his fellow zebras for at least six months now to reduce the chance of contracting any viruses that the other ze- bras or some of the horses and other ani- mals at the zoo might have until his own immune system is ready. For more informa- tion and updates on life with Mel and Yak- kity, and information on the fundraising campaign, go online to www.papanack. com, or phone 613-673-7275 and ask for Keith Forgie.
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
Mel poses with his “roomate” Keith Forgie at the Papanack Zoo
WENDOVER| What’s new at the Papanack Zoo? Well, for starters, the nursery seems to have moved into the zookeeper’s house. There’s a zebra living in the kitchen and a yak down in the basement. The zebra foal is Melinda’s Child, or Mel, for short, a little stallion born last month at the zoo/breeding station, and several weeks before his proper due date. His pre- mature birth was further complicated when he dropped out of his mother, Melinda, and suffered a broken leg landing on the ground. Keith Forgie, Papanack Zoo co- founder and chief operator, realized the problem almost at once. “She (Melinda) was trying to get him up, nudging him and prodding him, but he couldn’t do it,” he said. Forgie sent a call out to the local vet- erinarians and also assembled a group of volunteers. Armed with one-inch plywood shields the majority of the men kept Me- linda at bay as she was lashing out with hooves and snapping her large teeth at anyone and everyone trying to get near her newborn baby. One man was able to get Mel away and wrestled him into a van for transport to the animal hospital in St-Hyacinthe, across the Ottawa River in Québec. The doctors there are experienced in treating horses and oth- er domestic farm animals and, after a phone consultation with veterinary staff at the To- ronto Zoo, were assured that they could treat Mel just as they would any newborn colt. “It was three or four hours of massive care,” Forgie said, describing all of emergen- cy veterinary medical procedures brought to bear on Mel. During the rush drive to the animal hospital, the vet accompanying Mel used an electrolyte solution to keep his en- ergy level up. Besides treating the broken leg, the hos- pital veterinarians had to also deal with complications resulting from Mel’s prema- ture birth. “They knew it was going to be a big job,” said Forgie. First problem was to figure out how to maintain Mel’s immune system. The prema- ture birth meant he didn’t get a chance to nurse from his mother. The first few days of nursing provides any infant with colestrum in the mother’s milk, a source of natural ad- ditives to help stabilize and strengthen a newborn’s immune system. The lab at the St-Hyacinthe animal hos- pital was able to develop a blood plasma containing horse colestrum for IV injection into Mel to help boost his developing im- mune system. The little zebra stallion also received regular injections of antibiotics to prevent bronchial pneumonia, which is a serious risk with premature newborns because the lungs are the last organ in the body to finish developing. After those problems were solved and his broken leg treated, Mel had to spend his first two weeks in the world in a harness to both keep him off his injured leg and also off of his feet altogether. In the womb, a zebra is born with two ves- tigial toes along with the hoof. These extra toes fall off before birth occurs while the hardening process for the hooves finishes. In Mel’s case, that didn’t happen because of
Photo: Graham Rolf
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