ORLANDO, Fla. — A white rhino at Disney’s Animal Kingdom has her sight back after a rare cataract surgery and a recovery plan that included help from Disney’s costuming team.
Disney said keepers first noticed cloudiness in the right eye of Kendi, a 27-year-old white rhino who has lived at the park her entire life.
Veterinarians later determined Kendi had cataracts, a condition that clouds the eye lens and can lead to blindness if untreated.
Disney said surgically removing a cataract from a white rhino is rare and highly complex because of the animal’s size.
Dr. Betsy, a veterinarian with Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment, worked with Dr. Caryn Plummer, an ophthalmologist with the University of Florida, to adapt advanced veterinary surgical techniques for Kendi.
“I’ve planned for this one procedure more than any other in my life,” Dr. Betsy said in a news release. “It’s been one of the most rewarding moments of my career.”
The preparation took years.
Disney said Kendi’s care team trained her to voluntarily receive eye drops up to four times a day, which became an important part of her treatment and recovery.
After the successful surgery, Disney’s costuming team helped create a custom protective eye mask for Kendi.
Disney said the mask took two years to design and helped protect Kendi’s healing eye while still allowing her to receive post-operative eye drops.
“This was definitely outside the scope of what our team is usually asked to do,” Tracy, a Disney costuming manager, said in a news release. “But nothing about this project was ordinary.”
Disney said Kendi is now back on the savanna at Animal Kingdom with clearer vision.
White rhinos are considered near threatened in the wild. Disney said Kendi’s care team and veterinary partners plan to share what they learned from the surgery so other rhinos may benefit.
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