Simon Thomsett

Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles, Raptors | Date: Sep 09 2008 | By: simonthomsett

After the excitement died down, and my stage fright had gone I looked around me at a room filled with 17 people. I had dreaded this day for nearly a year, and certainly the last 6 months my worries had got to the point that I was sure I would pass out at this crucial moment. As it approached the emails got more technical until it finally had to be my call. I opted for the soonest possible date, the smallest possible surgery, and whatever equipment we could muster. A course of action agreed by all. There was pressure. In that quiet moment I could see that every face was focused on Rosy. There were familiar faces. I was glad that Paula was there, she had known Rosy when she was a teenager too. A lot of people knew of Rosy but hadn’t seen him in the flesh. Rosy was and remains a small legend as far as raptors go in Africa. There were people here from all backgrounds and disciplines, and all working to save his sight.

I admit I felt ashamed. For the last few years I may have become less patriotic to my country of birth. I saw so few that truly cared for the wildlife and environment, and see ugly businessmen bulldozing pristine invaluable land for personal profit. They seem bent on taking it all. I came dangerously close to accepting it. This ill feeling conspired with a tangible lack of interest in my own raptor work that commenced a few years ago. This last year my own morale has improved but right then I knew I was surrounded by fellow Kenyans who cared greatly. I felt proud and I am not going to give up on Kenya. In fact I am fairly sure that it would have been very difficult to have got this many people together anywhere in the world………just for an animal.

One lens was irrigated out, and this took some time. The acrylic lens was put it. Dan thought the lens went in very well. The other eye was done more quickly with the use of the Phaco. This needle tip has ultra sound that emulsifies the tissue. The soft material is sucked into the needle. This worked fast. I was able to see the lens being slipped into place and settled in its capsule. What surprised me was the lack of sutures. The whole operation takes place through so small a hole that on pulling the needle out the eye maintains its shape. There is no leakage.

3 hours later and the operation was over. The look of relief on Barry and Nonee’s face showed just how tense the anesthesia part of it had been. We retired to a social tea and cakes arranged by Bernice on their verandah and lawn to talk it all over. People were elated, it had gone exceptionally well. I held Rosy in my arms keeping his head up.

He was very groggy. He was handed around for photographs to nearly everybody. People were that happy.

People left and I was shown my room in which we put a dog box and Rosy’s sole possession, his blue carpet. In this he was lain. Before dinner Barry went over every detail and re-enforced the need for this to be properly written up. It was ground breaking stuff. Yes it had been done before but the literature could certainly have space for this. Besides we had many specialists overseas who had been consulted, and it did make sense to publish a paper of some sort. It was a first for Africa.

I phoned Laila to tell her the news. She said that a lot of people were asking if he was OK. Laila was relieved and said that she would pass on the message as soon as possible.

I slept well that night. Too well. Barry woke me up at 3AM and we checked him again and put eye drops in.

The next morning Dan and Nonee came over to check on him. The eye pressure seemed too high and it is necessary to put special eye drops in frequently throughout the day and night.

I will write again tomorrow to let you all know how Rosy is doing now that he is back at home.

Tags: Cataract Operation, Crowned Eagle, Kenya, Rosy

7 responses so far

Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles, Raptors | Date: Sep 08 2008 | By: simonthomsett

Saturday the 7^th Sept 2008 began early. It was difficult to sleep so I awoke before sunrise watching Tim the Lanner at the other end of the room do his morning preening session. Because the operation was to begin at 1pm, I thought it best to pack the car and leave for Nairobi at around 10AM. Rosy was taken out of his night shed and placed in the early sunlight. He is now accustomed to this and sat happily on his perch until Girl, his mate calls from the nearby shed. He calls back. I stared at him from the verandah and had second thoughts. “What if he died? “What if it was a failure and he would never see?” Today could be the end of an era, or a beginning of a new one.

Photo Paula Kahumbu

I packed the car with his only belongings, a thick carpet, and walked out the back to pick him up with the thick triple leather glove. My heart was very down. I could not bare the thought of losing him, yet it had to be done. As he stepped onto the glove, he became angry at the untimely disturbance and crushed my hand beneath. Then searing pain hit me in the index finger as he punctured all three layers of leather, skin, flesh and tendon to be stopped by bone….my bone. I let out a howl, cursed him badly and marched him off to the car uttering bitter things. Thank goodness he did that as the moment was far too heartbreaking. Good old Rosy, as formidable as ever!

Photo Paula Kahumbu

We arrived at Dr Barry Cockar’s Veterinary clinic after getting lost in Nairobi at about 11.45 AM, making record speed. Barry and Bernice his wife was there and insisted that I stay the night with them rather than drive back possibly late that night with a very sick eagle.

Dr Dan Gradin took us through the various stages of the surgery. The incision would be made almost at the part were the iris joins the cornea, and angled up to create a long tunnel. Then either a needle with a saline drip would be put in this hole, or a Phaco. Both techniques wash and suck out the damaged lens, after first puncturing the thick coated jacket in which it is housed. This capsule must be cut in the anterior part, but not the posterior…which remains intact. The lens maybe soft and easily removed or hard and difficult to remove. There was no way of knowing until you get there. The access is straightforward. The instrument goes in at the side then it is plunged down the pupil onto the lens which lies just behind. It is then ploughed out in shallow grooves. After removing this he would have to decide whether or not to put the lenses in. In other words the decision was to be made at the operating table.

Dr Nonee Magre came with the donated supplies from Ingeborg Fromberg of Acrivet, which included a CD of how to roll and house the lens in a special syringe-type applicator. Kaneto Mineto and Mr.Shiojiri Kichitaro of the Japan Wildlife Centre Kenya, who had earlier donated some $800 to this operation came, followed by Dr Paula Kahumbu of Wildlife Direct and Peter Greste who was to take documentary video of the proceedings. Dr Daniel Mundia and nurses Rose Louisa and Jane Huria of the PCEA Kikuyu Hospital Eye Unit. The small surgery was bulging with people.

A little latter than planned, Rosy finally had the first anesthetic dose. This is hair-raising. For some reason patients like to talk to their surgeons before surgery, not to their anesthesiologist, the person that keeps them a hair’s breadth away from death. This was the part I feared the most, and said as much to Peter with a camera pointed in my face.

Dr Cockar and Dr Mundia observing Dr Magre putting in the eye drops, Peter Greste filming for BBC

Checking eye pressure

Both Barry and Nonee had it well covered with each taking turns to listen to his heart and breathing. In a few minutes his wings fell to his sides, his head rolled and he was out. He was laid on the table covered in sheets and had a special sheet placed over his eye, an eye clip a bit bigger than a paper clip, prized his eyelids open and soon all there was, was an isolated eye staring out of a sheet at a surgery filled with gowned and masked surgeons. My job was to hold his head so that his eye was static, and to do so unflinchingly, despite the wound that Rosy had inflicted on my hand earlier that day. I had a great view and was fascinated from the start as Dan talked all of us through it. Nonee and Barry were itching to get a closer look and Peter went so far as to stab most of the surgeons in the back of the head with the furry microphone boom of his camera, to get the closest possible pictures. Dan is a veteran of some 10,000 surgeries all on people, and it was clear that he too was fascinated by the avian eye, so much bigger and more advanced than a human’s.

He went straight to work and it was remarkable to see the skill and confidence. At the same time all of it made good sense. The eye is like a camera and so long as you restored all the functioning bits, it would work.

(I am waiting on some photographs and will post the second part of the story soon)

Tags: Cataract operation on crowned eagle, Crowned Eagle, Kenya, Kikuyu eye hospital, Simon Thomsett

11 responses so far

Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles, Raptors | Date: Aug 28 2008 | By: simonthomsett

Rosy the male Crowned Eagle with cataracts was taken out of his shed three weeks ago. The measurements taken by Dr Tony Walia and Dr Nonee Magre at the Kikuyu Eye hospital were circulated by email and we received the great news that Ingeborg Fromberg, the head of Acrivet (info@acrivet.eu) had a few suitable lenses and other vital equipment which she wished to donate to us. It only needed a suitable box number and physical address to send it to. As I live in the sticks, the chances of having a postman driving out to my house carrying a parcel were pretty slim. Dr Nonee Magre offered the Kenya Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (KSPCA) as a suitable address.

Nonee phoned me back this morning (27th Aug) saying that there had been a bit of a delay with regard to being able to do the surgery at Kikuyu Eye Hospital. Dr Walia reassured me that the matter would resolve itself in a positive way. The centenary celebration of the hospital are coming up soon, and the operation on an eagle is mostly recognized as a wonderful PR opportunity, but a few things needed to be done in order to placate a few.

Unfortunately it looks like the operation date may have to be pushed a few more weeks!! I do not have a few more weeks. Rosy, as always, seems to contrive to destroy my plans. The last few months have been tough enough making the resolve to leave, releasing birds, and giving some away. Rosy, the pillar of my life, is unquestionably my nemesis too. He is my brother. I love him. He will win, he always does. It is a typical love / hate relationship.

Girl (Photo by Dave Richards)

We are looking for another place to do the operation while we wait for the supplies to arrive. There is a more brutal approach to cataract operation involving a large incision of the cornea, and a manual extraction of the lens. Without the pin-hole type surgical equipment of today, this is how cataract surgery was done in the past. I even understood that the ancient Egyptians did something of the sort. But this would be a pity given that we do have the specialized equipment here.

Naturally, I could not help but wonder if the CITES regulations that successfully hindered his temporary export to South Africa for the operation could not at this late hour be reversed. But sadly there is no point in even trying, given that I still have not had a response from either South Africa or Kenya. Many have said it would take many months to get the permission, and the chances were slim.

I wrote a letter to my Mum the other day regarding Rosy and I deleted a cheesy comment that he was a part of my left arm. My Mum would scoff at that, as much as I do. It was not what I wanted to say. I dislike a spiritual approach regarding animals. No mystical gaze into the horizon to view my spiritual totem, and to seek their guidance etc. No there is no rainbow warrior insight, no heighten perception, for living with one eagle throughout my life.

When I went into Rosy and Girl’s shed to get him, he was a beast. Snatching and ripping at me and lifting three grown men off their feet in a single bench press of his legs. Biting and yelling at us while we put jesses back on him. I dreaded this moment for weeks and he did not disappoint us. We were pouring sweat and mid way through it I thought of my Dad, who passed away last year and how this would greatly amuse him. As a measure of his respect for Rosy, I noted in his old filing cabinet a file named “Rosy”. There was none of any other bird, animal or even of his children! He had written a script around Rosy, and a boy (me), and Rosy was one heck of a tough customer. Even now I reckon my Dad would have nothing but admiration for Rosy, as he sits outside on the lawn on his perch looking immaculate and proud. When Girl calls from her shed, Rosy calls back. The call is “This is my land”. Just as a lion’s roar. He owns with Girl a territory here and defended it for 16 years. I recorded him a few days ago and if I could figure it out I think I could share his call on this blog. Perhaps later.

What I meant to say to my Mum was that Rosy and I are back to our old relationship. I knelt down to pick him up talking to him the other day. He talked back. It is a very un-eagle like series of notes, but they portray worry, curiosity, concern, confidence and even gratitude. He cannot see a thing, not flinching even if I move my hand quickly to within an inch of his eyes. So when he steps gentle up onto the glove, he has to know it is there. He has to know it is me, for he hates others. The moment he is back on my arm he is happy. For fun I might work him into a pretend fury by growling at him and saying “Rosy is dozy and sometimes very dim!” The reaction I had from him 30 years ago has not changed one iota. Wham! He slams the glove. With evil passion he pummels the length of the glove making me wince in pain. Why I do it I do not know. But if ever I need a reminder of just how strong he is I do this (only with the 3 leather layers plus tyre reinforced glove). With his face an inch from mine he tends to bump his bill on my cheek or nose. He always did, and he does so now. We walk off, he perfectly balanced, my arm held in the same way that decades have taught us. I move, turn and place him back on his perch in a completely non-thinking manner and he like a dance partner follows my lead. You would not know he was blind. To say we are “one” is taking it far too far. But I should bet that few people have had relationships this close and this long….with anything, human or otherwise. Yes there is a sympathy, a prediction down to the finest movement of what the other thinks. It would be mad not to imagine that this is so.

Magu in the sun

In an hour I shall be putting Vero’s, the Verreaux’s Eagle on a plane flown by Tobi Dunn, to be delivered to Martin Wheeler at Tassia Lodge in Ill Ngwesi, Samburu District. I have never met Martin. I knew of him a few years ago when I met his teacher the late Ron Hartley. Ron was the leader of Zimbabwean raptor work and certainly the greatest falconer Africa ever produced. Ron said Martin was a wild one, but a good falconer. I am trusting you Ron.

Right now my heart is down and I am desperately worried that I am doing the right thing by leaving next month. But I have to remind myself that I have no choice. Life depends upon work and income. This has come to an end and what I am doing, as much as it destroys me to do it, must be done for the birds.

Tags: Crowned Eagle, Girl, Operation, Rosy, Vero's

8 responses so far

Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles | Date: Aug 17 2008 | By: simonthomsett

For those following the Crowned Eagle ‘saga’, it is important to separate two parallel issues. One is Rosy’s eye operation and the other is the closing down of my facility at Athi. The urgency to get Rosy’s eyes operated on does not depend upon the date I move out of Athi, nor the African expedition that Laila and I will do shortly thereafter. We all agree that Rosy comes first. But he demands daily maintenance now, and will do so for at least a week or two after the operation. So the sooner this is done the better for all parties.

The reason for leaving has already been outlined, but poor security and the increased cost of maintaining what amounts to a zoo summarises the difficulty in trying to do anything other than “holding the fort”. The decision to cease the raptor rehabilitation side of my life has upset a lot of close friends and relatives, but they all knew it had to stop, one day. They hope it will continue, as do I, once the foundation for it is firm and self sustaining. The plan is to release all those birds that can be released, find homes for the rest. In a country famous for its human/wildlife relationships such as depicted in “Born Free”, it is surprising to know that very few people are allowed to hold wildlife and options are very few and far between. I was not prepared to give the birds over to institutions or private collections that have (at their own self admission) not the facilities to keep the birds. To find Rosy and Girl a new home and new foster parents was going to be tough.

Rosy with an egg (Photo by Laila bahaa-el-din)

I drove to Naivasha on the 13th August to meet Sarah and Mike Higgins who own a beautiful piece of property that looks onto a small wildlife conservancy of Crescent Island. Set among Yellow fever trees, the view out front is of uninterrupted passage of impala, giraffe and wildebeest. Yet just behind them is a working farm fringed by a tall hedge that demarcates their property from their neighbours. In here is the “veg patch”. Closer to the main house, Sarah built two very smart sheds for one of my old one winged Fish Eagles, and another for a pair of flightless Augur Buzzards. Somewhere between the two is a number of shrubbery filled sheds with an extremely fecund pair of Barn Owls and a rather sinister Spotted Eagle Owl who tucks herself up and stares over her shoulder with one half closed eye. Sarah is surrounded by her owls, and even has some Marsh Owls that come into the house at night and play with the curtains. Like all our birds, they are waifs and strays, one winged, one eyed wrecks that have no hope other than captivity. I was very late in realizing that we shared a common interest although I have known Sarah for a long time. But when I asked for help, there was no question of backing out.

With the smaller raptors, it wasn’t too much to ask. They did not need anything more than just a shed. But with the Crowned Eagles, it is a very different matter as if alarmed, this eagle could put you in hospital or worse. Sarah knows this and is very anxious that the birds will have a good home and continue to breed.

Duchess, one of Rosy’s and Girl’s offspring, that was successfully released last year (Photo by Laila Bahaa-el-din)

Nothing can beat the way these eagles were housed before. On Game Ranching Athi River, they could sit and stare out over tens of thousands of acres of uninterrupted plains and watch the giraffe and wildebeest wander by in their hundreds. A few weeks ago, I saw Girl staring hard at the only decent sized acacia tree about 200m distant. I thought she was daft, but double checked to see, just see with strong binoculars, the tops of ears of two, maybe more cheetah. There is no question that the peace and tranquility of such a scene, plus the sometimes naturally occurring alarming events make the pair feel they have a territory and a place to defend. When a Martial or a Tawny Eagle flies low over the house they call out and get very protective. It is all part of the daily routine that gets them into breeding condition.

In Naivasha, the situation will be different and they will have to contend with the constant hum of distant tractors, people’s voices, arrival of cars which less sensitive raptors would learn to ignore quickly. But Crowned Eagles are truly leopards in their shyness and suspicion of all things. With good planning, however, it is possible that they can get almost exactly the same design shed, and with luck, when Rosy is better…….they will continue to breed.

When it comes to weighing up options, the most demanding criteria is whether or not the people looking after the eagles care. And Sarah cares, a lot.

So it is settled. In the next few weeks, I will be shuttling materials from Athi to Naivasha to build a duplicate shed. Sarah will become their guardian until such a time as Laila and I return, and if and when I can find a new location.

Tags: Crowned Eagle, Relocation, Rosy

2 responses so far