Masaya underwent pioneering surgery to remove a golf ball-sized mass from her foot, a procedure that saved it from amputation. Vets at Chester Zoo collaborated with University of Liverpool surgeons to adapt techniques for the surgery, as no prior examples existed for roloway monkeys. The surgery saved all but one of Masaya's toes. Masaya had been suffering recurring problems with her foot since she arrived in Chester in 2023, and vets believe the abscess may have been caused by an old thorn injury. When swelling worsened last year, Masaya was taken to the University of Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital for a CT scan.
Roloway monkeys are critically endangered, with fewer than 2,000 living in the wild in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where they face habitat loss and poaching. Chester Zoo is one of two places in the UK where roloway monkeys can be found, and there are only a few breeding females in Europe.
I was the first person he saw after he'd been jabbed in the tail and he reared up and opened his mouth and started spitting at me. I was behind glass but I told him, 'It wasn't me!'
Guardian photographer David Levene spent a year following intricate veterinary operations on some of the world's most endangered animals at ZSL zoos in London and Whipsnade. On the second day of the project, Levene found himself face-to-face with a lion. Levene's year at the ZSL zoos began when he visited London to take photos of an art exhibition based on animal poo, and near the artist's studio was the veterinary hospital.
One case Levene documented involved an Asiatic lion named Bhanu, who was suffering chronic recurrent ear infections that caused an unusually narrow ear canal and required a general anaesthetic for full examination. While under anaesthetic, vets performed as many checks as they could on Bhanu, including inspecting his teeth.
On the second day of the project, I found myself face-to-face with a lion – it was definitely a baptism of fire.
The Zoological Society of London has a comprehensive veterinary team, including five vets, six nurses, a pathologist, a pathology technician, a molecular diagnostician, and a microbiologist. ZSL celebrates its 200th birthday, and over its 200 years, ZSL vets have played pioneering roles in animal health and welfare.
Historical pioneers in zoo veterinary medicine include Charles Spooner, the zoo's first 'medical attendant', whose journals provide some of the earliest written evidence of veterinary care. Herpetologist Joan Beauchamp Procter, made the first female curator of reptiles and amphibians in 1923, transformed their care with an innovative reptile house. Oliver Graham-Jones, Britain's first dedicated zoo vet appointed in 1951, invented the handheld dart gun, allowing anaesthetics to be safely administered from a distance.
Instantly I thought, 'Wow, I need to see what's inside.'
Lagertha is just over four weeks old and about the size of a tennis ball.