SAY AHHHH-TERRRR
Giant otter with giant toothache gets root canal
Anyone who has cracked a tooth right down to the nerve or has had an abscess knows what Ticuna may have felt like when she broke both of her upper canines.
Ticuna is a 4 1⁄2-year-old giant otter at Zoo Miami.
The animals are highly endangered and, like humans, sometimes crack their teeth while chewing on hard food substances.
In the wild, such a dilemma can prevent them from eating properly and eventually lead to death, said Ron Magill, spokesman for Zoo Miami. Fortunately, Ticuna had access to proper dental care.
In what Magill believes is the first procedure for a giant otter, Ticuna underwent a double root canal at Zoo Miami’s Christopher Weeks An-
imal Hospital on Wednesday.
Wearing full surgical scrubs, a veterinary dental team went to work on the otter.
In order to reduce the time that Ticuna was under anesthesia, Dr. Jan Bellows of All Pets Dental and Dr. Elizabeth McMorran each worked on a separate canine simultaneously, Magill said.
All went well as Ticuna appears to be fully recovered and is back at her Amazon and Beyond exhibit at the zoo.
Giant otters are the longest of the world’s 13 otter species — with males sometimes reaching a length of 6 feet. The animals are extremely endangered and, in nature, are typically found only in remote areas of the tropics in South America.
According to Magill, Zoo Miami has bred several litters and has one of the country’s most successful captive otter breeding programs.
Zoo Miami, 12400 SW 152nd St., is scheduled to reopen next Saturday for the first time since being damaged by Hurricane Irma.