Tiger getting prosthetic paw in world first operation

A tiger is being given a prosthetic paw in the first operation of its kind.

Professor Peter Giannoudis - from the University of Leeds - has helped Indian experts with a preliminary operation on a seven-year-old big cat called Sahebrao maimed by a poachers trap.

Now, in a world first the tiger will be fitted with an artificial paw in around a month after being rescued from a trap in Gondmohadi village in Chandrapur district back in 2012.

The wound later developed gangrene, which meant part of his injured front left left was amputated.

Since that time, he has been in captivity at Nagpur's Gorewada Zoo's Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Surgeon Sushrut Babhulkar - who adopted the animal three years ago - told the Indian Express newspaper: "I wish to see him walk normally, like a human being getting a prosthetic leg, for the rest of his life."

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