Dr Justin Boorstein performs life-saving operations on big cats – and even puts his hands inside the jaws of lions and tigers.
he brave vet started as a volunteer 10 years ago, but he’s now one of Big Cat Rescue’s star vets.
He quickly graduated from feeding the big cats to saving their lives – though admits carrying out the surgery does come with some risks.
Dr Boorstein said: ‘I get asked what it feels like to be that close to a big cat, it’s intimidating and scary. But when I do a procedure comparing a small cat to a big cat, they’re almost identical.
‘The biggest difference is if the big cat wakes up it could kill me and people around me, so it can be a very dangerous job and one where you don’t want to make any mistakes.’
BCR rehabilitates and rescues a huge variety of big cats, including tigers rescued from circuses, lions from other centres that have been shut down and bobcats who have lost fights with cars, so Boorstein’s days are rarely dull.
He said: ‘So my basic tasks at Big Cat Rescue are not only surgery but basic wellness care, going from vaccines all the way to – one of the most common things we deal with – dental disease.’
One of Dr Boorstein’s most memorable – and delicate – cases involved Hoover the tiger and his penis. Hoover came to BCR after he was rescued from a cruel travelling circus in Peru.
Despite being in perfect health, Hoover’s penis ended up stuck out if its sheath, which can lead to it drying out and even dying in some cases, so Justin sedated and neutered the cat.
(Picture: Barcroft)
Rather you than me (Picture: Barcroft)
He also carefully tucked the penis back inside its sheath and put in a dissolvable purse string suture to prevent it from popping back out.
Post a Comment