THE SPCA in King William’s Town had to put down a two-headed calf last week. The society said it was the first time such a case had been brought to them.
Dr Tony Garde said the day-old calf was taken to the State veterinarian’s office in Zwelitsha last week by Richard Niyabo, a stock farmer near Middledrift.
Garde then took the barely-conscious calf to the SPCA in King William’s Town to be put to sleep.
Spokesperson for the SPCA branch Annette Rademeyer said the calf was very weak on its arrival.
“When it got here it was still conscious and breathing from both noses, but it was very weak and might not have survived another day,” Rademeyer said.
Although both heads were conscious, the reaction from one of them was visibly slower than the other, she said. Both sets of eyes and tongues were moving.
...“It is an interesting case which one doesn’t see often,” said Garde. He said the calf should have been one of a set of twins, but as a result of incomplete splitting of the fertilised egg, Siamese twins developed and joined at the neck.
“These animals seldom survive.”
via Daily Dispatch Online.
Someone would have probably taken them if the SPCA had asked around.
No comments:
Post a Comment