Specialists have unanimously agreed that our petite baby elephant, Lola, has a life-threatening congenital heart defect that can only be cured by heart surgery. The operation will be carried out by a multi-disciplinary team of heart surgeons, cardiologists and anaesthetists from Munich University's departments for human and veterinary medicine.

Lola's condition is stable on day two after the diagnosis. She is taking short drinks from her mother, Panang, and sleeping a lot. The baby elephant is still weak but has remained with the herd.

Preparations are currently being made at high speed for this extraordinary medical intervention. From setting up the operating theatre at Hellabrunn's veterinary hospital with equipment valued at 150,000 euros to arranging insurance for the transport and use of these expensive loan items, everything has to be thought of. The heart lung machine, chairs and lights for the operating theatre have already been delivered and a special mattress for the elephant to lie on is on order and expected to arrive sometime today. Zoo technicians are checking the electricity supply needed for these special machines and an emergency generator has been put on standby.

The medical team is preparing

The operating team of 15 doctors and assistants met again Friday afternoon to prepare for the heart surgery. Ultrasound scans were evaluated and the particular issues that could occur when performing open heart surgery on a baby elephant were discussed.

The operation itself will take four or five hours, longer if complications arise, plus the preparation and wrap-up time for the operation on the baby elephant. Prof. Christoph Schmitz, chief physician in the department of paediatric heart surgery at Großhadern hospital will lead the operating team.

Zoo Director, Dr. Andreas Knieriem, said, "This is Lola's only chance of survival. We have several well-rehearsed specialist teams in place who will give her their all. Unfortunately we can't do any more now other than cross our fingers and hope that positive thinking will win out."

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