LITTLE JO-DEE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27254, 3 December 1949, Page 6

LITTLE JO-DEE

BABY ELEPHANT BROKEN LEG IS NOW IN A SPLINT TEETHING TROUBLES BEGIN Jo-Dee, the orphan baby elephant with the broken hind leg, slept peacefully in Dunedin last night. The leg was placed in a specially-prepared splint at the Dunedin Public Hospital yesterday. Jo-Dee was given an anaesthetic before the splint was piaced on the leg. The splint was made of metal, including lead.' The task was performed by two Dunedin veterinarians, Messrs G. A. Thomson and 1. M. Cairney, who were assisted by another veterinarian and also by a well-known Dunedin surgeon.

Jo-Dee received an injury to her right hind leg at Oamaru last weekend- She was brought to the Dunedin Public Hospital, where an X-ray revealed that the leg was broken above the “knee.” A further X-ray will be taken in due course to ascertain how the broken bone is mending.

While convalescing, Jo-Dee occupies a special stall with plenty of straw. She wears a jacket made of blankets. She is not allowed visitors at present—not even the Daily Times photographer—because it, is essential that she be not disturbed. She is playful by nature, waves her little trunk when her attention is attracted and has been also inclined to “ stump about ” on her short, stout' legs—the three legs, that is; the fourth being held up painfully. She is receiving every attention from the specialists, and also from her own special nurse, Mr 'Hector Harrison, of Wirths’ Circus. Jo-Dee is proving an excellent patient and seldom complains although the painful fracture has often brought tears to her eyes. She has another worry now apart from her leg; she has started teething. Soon after Jo-Dee was born, her mother died. Mr Philip Wir’th bought Jo-Dee at Singapore and brought her to Australia to join the well-known circus that is now visiting the South Island. Mr Wirth has named the baby elephant after his wife Josephine and his sister Doris.

Although only 12 months old, JoDee stands three feet in height and weighs a quarter of a ton. Her diet consists of warm milk, grass that has been put through a grinder and cereals. She is still fed with a bottle —several times a day.