We recently met up with Mark at Plzen Zoo in the Czech Republic, where Mark presented an emotionally moving talk. Having watched the video, we were determined to share this with our followers .
Even though this dates back to 2012, the pioneering surgery conducted is still something special to this day!
Equally so is the wonderful passion, for this misunderstood creature, of all involved in this project.
Without further ado, here goes...
Mark writes;
Our 3-metre long female King cobra nicknamed Sleeping Beauty has undergone a life-saving three-hour operation to remove a malignant tumour.
As the tumour had grown rapidly, we decided to seek expert advice from vets and medical professionals as far afield as Singapore and Australia to give the King cobra the best chance of survival.
At the invitation of Mark O'Shea, two veterinary surgeons specialising in reptilian medicine (Doctors Edgar Wefer and Nelo Civera Vico) came to Britain from the Hospital Veterinario Valencia Sur in Spain to examine Sleeping Beauty.
Both experts believed they could remove the tumour successfully and a return visit was planned.
Dr Nelo Civera Vico returned to the UK a month later, and completely removed the tumour.
Sleeping Beauty recovered well from this operation, and was returned back to her enclosure shortly after.
Thank you to everyone involved, including the Border Force officers at Birmingham Airport who assisted by allowing Dr Wefer, who is Venezuelan, to enter the UK at short notice for the initial examination.
Published on 20 Jul 2012.
Watch the video below: