Barbaro's surgeon to try to help polar bear at Erie Zoo
Sunday, August 20, 2006 ERIE, Pa. (AP) — The surgeon who has worked to save the life of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro will now try to help a polar bear with a broken leg, Erie Zoo officials said Friday. Dr. Dean Richardson will operate on Alcor, the 750-pound polar bear with two badly broken bones just above his right paw, sometime next week at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, where Barbaro is being treated, officials said. Zoo officials do not know how Alcor broke his leg, but they suspect he did it Aug. 11 while playing with his brother Mizar, another 7-year-old bear who has been at the zoo with Alcor since 2001. The bear's right front radius is shattered while the weight-bearing bone in the leg, the ulna, is snapped in two, officials said. Because the breaks are so close to the paw, veterinarians who examined the bear Thursday were pessimistic that they could be secured with rods or pins long enough to allow the leg to heal. A vet at the Cleveland Zoo put the Erie Zoo officials in touch with members of Dr. Richardson's medical team, who believe they can repair the leg. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.