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Fishermen split by reef predator report
Thursday, May 11, 2017

The surest way to secure Bermuda’s reef fishing industry is to impose further restrictions and a ban on the sale of certain species according to lifelong fisherman Alan Card.


Rescue plan could stress out turtles
Wednesday, May 10, 2017

A plan to relocate sea turtles in advance of the America’s Cup has sparked concerns from environmentalists about the impact on the animals’ health.


Greenrock On Relocation Plan For Sea Turtles
Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Greenrock was surprised by the announcement to capture and relocate sea turtles from the Great Sound for May and June, it is certainly an interesting initiative, and one that raises some questions for consideration,” Greenrock Executive Director Jonathan Starling said.


Great Sound turtles ‘moving home’ for Cup
Monday, May 08, 2017

Sea turtles are being temporarily relocated from the Great Sound to keep them out of harm’s way during the America’s Cup.


Sea Turtles Being ‘Temporarily Relocated’
Sunday, May 07, 2017

[Updated] In “anticipation of intense boating activity in the Great Sound,” the America’s Cup Bermuda is “coordinating a temporary sea turtle relocation project,” in which “sea turtles will be netted based on methods used successfully for turtle tagging operations and temporarily relocated inside a purpose-built ocean enclosure” near the Aquarium in Flatts.



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Latest News

All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!

Lemur visits dentist for tooth troubles
Royal Gazette
Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Simon Jones
Published Feb 23, 2016 at 8:00 am (Updated Feb 23, 2016 at 6:34 am)

RG_160223_1a.jpeg
Surprise patient: Alice, 29, is recovering well after high-risk
surgery to remove one of her teeth, with Dr Len Wedlich

Saturday was not a typical day at the office for dentist Len Wedlich.

Instead of the traditional men, women and children nursing sore teeth he was faced with a very different patient of the four-legged variety.

Dr Wedlich from Island Dental was enlisted by the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo to help treat a lemur suffering from a nasty root abscess.

He voluntarily joined forces with Ian Walker, BAMZ curator, to remove two lower-level teeth under anaesthetic and help Alice the lemur get her appetite back.

“I did a little bit of research before the surgery on the structure of a lemur’s jaws,” Dr Wedlich said.

“There are the same landmarks as a human’s jaws, so it was not a particularly difficult procedure.

“It only took about seven minutes to remove the tooth that was causing the problems, but we were very much aware of the animal’s age and her heart condition and tried to keep the amount of anaesthetic to a minimum.

“It’s the first time I have operated on a lemur so it was an unusual job, however in the past I did some dental work on a friend’s doberman pincher.”

Staff had noticed that Alice, one of three lemurs in the Malaysia exhibit, was off her food and quieter than usual last Wednesday.

As a result Dr Walker undertook a full physical examination that revealed the cause of the trouble.

He then contacted his dentist, Dr Wedlich, who is also the husband of the zoo’s animal registrar, Barbara Outerbridge’s, to see if he could help.

At 9am on Saturday the two doctors begun the tricky job of removing the animal’s troublesome tooth.

“It was a high risk surgery given the fact that Alice is 29 years old and she has a heart murmur,” said Dr Walker.

“In the wild lemurs live between 19 and 21 years old so Alice is pretty mature in terms of years.

“However we felt this was the best option for her welfare given that she was not eating and was obviously in pain.

“The surgery itself went very well and we had to remove two teeth just to be sure that we had dealt with the problem.

“From our point of view it is brilliant to call on people with this level of expertise and equipment to perform such procedures voluntarily.

“Alice is doing well and we hope to be able to let her back into the enclosure this week.”