Surgeons Deal with One Grizzly Patient - East Idaho News
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Surgeons Deal with One Grizzly Patient

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Fair use grizzly colorado mar 140219 16x9 608?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1392848116245Colorado State University(FORT COLLINS, Colo.) — Marley, a 7-year-old grizzly bear suffering from two broken front legs, was sedated and carried into an operating room Tuesday at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Fort Collins.

“This is my first grizzly bear,” said Dr. Jeremiah Easley.

Video and pictures of the 300 pound female patient were released Wednesday by the university.

In the video, Easley says X-rays revealed Marley’s left front leg had a fracture that was at least four weeks old.  A second X-ray showed her right front leg was also broken.  Doctors performed surgery to help repair an open flesh wound and remove dead pieces of bone to prevent an infection.

Marley was rescued about a month ago from a roadside zoo attraction in Georgia.

“She was being kept in a facility with 17 other bears where they were being kept in essentially cement pits,” said Rebecca Miceli with the Wild Animal Sanctuary. “They were an attraction essentially where people could come and feed them.”

The bears were given a new home at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colo., but officials noticed that Marley would not put weight on one of her legs. A subsequent examination determined that both legs had fractures, Miceli said.

Miceli said Marley is recovering and could live another 20 years.

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