Local gorilla undergoes risky eye surgery

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- An ape at Miami Metro Zoo needs surgery on not one, but both of her eyes, and the procedure to save her sight is a risky one.

At 42 years old and 420 pounds, she's a senior citizen in gorilla years, and like the rest of us, the older she gets, the more the signs of aging start to show.

Josephine will undergo cataract surgery on both eyes Friday. It is a unique procedure done only a handful of times on gorillas, but that's not why zoo keepers are worried. "She can still see light and dark and maybe some shapes and forms, but she can't see detail," Metro Zoo spokesperson Ron Magill said. "The thing is, she is a 42-year old gorilla, and the huge risk here is the anesthesia. The surgery itself is not as risky as the anesthesia."

But, it's a risk zoo keepers are willing to take. Sadly, Josephine's quality of life has been severely affected by the cataracts. "So you see in her mannerisms every day, she likes to have her back up against the wall, she always has her back against something where she knows nothing can come from behind her. She gets nervous because she'll hear things that she can't see, and you see her make abrupt movements because she's very wary of what's around her through her hearing, but she can't really see it," said Magill.

After weighing the pluses and the minuses, zoo experts said surgery was the only way to go. "She's pretty much blind now, so by doing this we really can improve her quality of life," Magill explained.

(Copyright 2009 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)