Rhino at UK safari park gets groundbreaking surgery on broken leg

A team including specialist surgeons and anaesthetists, nurses and animal keepers, perform the five-hour long operation

Amara, an 800 kg southern white rhino at a safari park in northwest England, has received what has been described as a "groundbreaking" medical operation to help heal a broken front leg.

Knowsley Safari in Merseyside and the University of Liverpool joined forces to perform the rare procedure after Amara suffered a fractured ulna, the park said in a statement on Thursday.

A team including specialist surgeons and anaesthetists, nurses and animal keepers, performed the five-hour long operation, which also included keyhole surgery of Amara's wrist.

"With no records or documentation existing worldwide for a rhino with this type of leg injury, the team used their expertise in treating horses and applied it to Amara," the park said.

"Amara's operation is unlike anything we've experienced previously," said David Stack, senior lecturer in equine surgery at the University of Liverpool. "Treating Amara has been a truly ground-breaking veterinary journey incorporating many firsts."

Eventually Amara was on her feet again and able to enjoy life outdoors. Knowsley Safari's Lindsay Banks said Amara's cast was removed in May.

"It was 27 weeks from Amara fracturing her leg, to being let back out into the paddock to join the rest of the crash and as her recovery continues, we're continuing to monitor her closely," Banks said.