Bala, a lion that has lived in Terra Natura Benidorm since 2007, is recovering satisfactorily after successfully undergoing the operation that has been done to remove a neoplastic mass that was located in the liver and biopsy a tissue sample in order to have a prognosis.

A few months ago, the first symptoms show up such as vomiting and episodes of anorexia. The veterinarians decided to perform an ultrasound that confirmed the existence of a mass that looked like a possible tumour next to the stomach, so a sample was taken for cytology to determine if it was an adenocarcinoma.

The veterinary team that has made the operation, formed by two veterinarians and four keepers of the park and the veterinarian José Rial and the technician Oscar Blázquez from the Marina Baixa Veterinary Hospital, has managed to remove two masses located in the liver, one of them of large dimensions that measured around 15 centimetres and another one of smaller size.

Due to the characteristics of the animal, in order to carry out this intervention in safe conditions (both for the specimen and for veterinary professionals) it has been carried out in the inside facility of the lions, where it has been necessary to move an operating room table and a machine inhalation anaesthesia.

This operation, carried out for the first time in Terra Natura Benidorm, has lasted 4 hours. Once the intervention was carried out, the specimen was returned to the facility where this animal lives, keeping it separated from the group of lions during the postoperative period and during the recovery period.

The objective of carrying out this operation was, on the one hand, to determine the extent of the tumour in this great feline and, by removing it, to extend its life expectancy, ensuring the highest possible level of welfare for the animal. The results of the biopsy are expected in a few weeks.

The evolution of the postoperative period is being a success, so Bala has returned to his meadow and is related with total normality with the rest of the members of the group of the species.