Dr. Sheldon Marks, who was asked to perform a vasectomy on an African lion, wrote this blog after he read about a colleague in Chile who performed a vas reversal on a lion.
It’s about time.
A successful vasectomy reversal was performed on a lion in South America, now with two cubs (O’Brien R. Lion cubs born in Chile after world first veterinary procedure.
Dr. Marks is honored to belong to an elite club of urologists around the world that have performed vasectomies and vas reversals on African lions and other large exotic animals.
“As a full-time, vas reversal only reversal specialist this is especially meaningful to me. I totally understand the unique anatomy, the size and location of the vas and the dynamics of a “simple” microsurgical vasectomy reversal, let alone the additional challenges of having to perform this surgery on an African lion.”
Dr. Sheldon H F Marks
We don’t know the back-story with this Chilean lion, but the experience with “our” lion was straightforward though challenging.
Dr. Marks was approached by local zoo officials to perform a vasectomy on an African lion at a zoo because they had an older male lion that had 2 issues that meant he was not appropriate for breeding.
First, the lion had unknown ancestors, and as he was about to be introduced to a young breeding female, there were concerns how this could be bad for future genetics. The nation’s overseeing African lion experts felt it would be prudent to prevent any interbreeding with such uncertainty.
Second, he had some physical issues since birth and there were worries that he might pass these onto his offspring. So, a simple vasectomy made sense. And for African lions, the alternative option of being neutered meant he would lose his mane and actually make him vulnerable to attack by the new female lion.
Though the lion’s vas deferens is much the same as humans, we found it to be located under a protective coat of extremely dense, thick fur and very thick skin. This certainly made the vasectomy and I’m sure the vas reversal especially challenging.
Dr. Marks has been in discussions with charities about performing vasectomies on the rapidly expanding herd of Pablo Escobar’s hippopotamus herd in Columbia.
Congratulations to the new African lion father and mother, the people of Chile and the urologist, Dr. Marconi!
For more information about vasectomy reversals on humans (and African lions) here at our full-time, vas reversal only center, please call today!
This page was reviewed, edited and updated July 13, 2023 by Sheldon Marks, MD.
