Flora, a White Tailed Sweetheart

     If you don’t find big brown eyes with long curled lashes batting sweetly 2 feet from you face a little becoming you will at least find them worthy of a second look.  Flora is a female White Tailed Deer who belongs to the collection of animals at the Tallahassee Museum of Natural History. She is now about 6 months old and weighs about 60 pounds.

Sweet Little Flora

     One warm morning about 2 months ago Melody, our friend Robin and I were walking about the park with Mike Jones, the curator and inspiring authority on all the creatures in his menagerie.  While we struggled with a old cow with a mastitis problem one of the keepers ran up and said a deer was suddenly lame on a front leg. 

     In order to do a thorough lameness exam on a wild animal, even a tame wild animal, sedation is almost always necessary. Flora was sedated and we determined that her right elbow was luxated (dislocated).  The injury had just occurred be we still have no idea how it happened.  I warned everyone that reducing the luxation might be a difficult thing to watch but all agreed to stay and after a long struggle we replaced the bone in it’s proper place and bandaged the leg in extension.  Flora recovered from the anesthetic and was soon walking again although with an expected limp.

     It was not to last however as Flora had difficulty with the restrictive bandage necessary to support her damaged elbow.  Susie, her caretaker, called me often with reports that steadily got worse.  We desperately wanted to keep Flora out of the operating room but it was not in the cards.  In order to perfectly repair and stabilize the elbow to allow Flora to walk again she had to come to the hospital and go through surgery.

     With care and great concern Mike sedated and transported her the 25 miles to our hospital for her surgery.  Mike and my staff crowded into the O.R. to monitor her throughout the hour long procedure. I cleaned the accumulated fibrous tissue from her joint and repaired the damaged ligament on the outside of the elbow. For support and protection I placed two screws and some stainless steel wire to protect the repaired ligament while she healed.

     Today, 3 weeks after her surgery, Flora is walking without a limp.  When she was injured and getting “messed with” all the time she became more fearful of people. But now Flora is trusting and pain free again. Next week, Mike will come down to FWMA and we will take Flora home again.  I will then understand why Susie has called so many times for progress reports.  I’m gonna miss those big brown eyes.

Gives Melody a little kiss

Flora says she'll miss us