Plastic surgery for seal woman
2005-10-31 17:32
George - A woman whose nose was bitten off by a seal at Herold's Bay in the Western Cape was in George Hospital waiting to be transferred to Cape Town early on Tuesday for plastic surgery.
Elsie van Tonder, 49, was also bitten on the leg when she tried to roll a seal back into the sea on a baby's blanket on Sunday.
Dr Beverley Pedro said on Monday: "The patient is in a stable condition and taking pain killers."
Pedro said Van Tonder was breathing through her mouth, and nobody at the hospital knew where her nose was.
"Somebody did take a photo of it lying on the beach, but I don't know if it's viable to reconstruct it," Pedro said.
"There is no purpose for us to keep it here."
She said she didn't think she had ever seen a case like this.
Being taken by ambulance
"Those seals are so beautiful, you can't blame her for wanting to help it."
Pedro said Van Tonder would be transferred by ambulance to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on Tuesday, for plastic surgery.
She would not be airlifted because the hospital recently lost its helicopter in an accident.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) and Western Cape Nature Conservation spokespeople were not immediately available.
The Garden Route SPCA said the officer on duty on Sunday, Winnie Swanepoel, was not taking any calls.
Nature Conservation said spokesperson Natalie Baker had already gone home, and did not have an after-hours number.
Nobody could say what had happened to the seal.
- SAPA