They perform emergency surgery on an alligator who found 70 coins in his stomach

During a routine check, specialists at a zoo in the United States found 70 coins in the stomach of Thibodaux, a 36-year-old alligator.

“As part of their routine care, our 10 American alligators underwent exams to ensure they are healthy”Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium stated on its social networks.

The procedure involves collecting blood and taking x-rays, “which are the result of decades of establishing trust with these animals through proactive training efforts that allow the animals to voluntarily participate in their own veterinary care,” the institution said. .

“During these routine exams, Our veterinarians identified some strange metal objects in the stomach of an iconic zoo resident: Thibodauxa 36-year-old leucistic American alligator,” he revealed.

That was why they decided to subject him to an emergency intervention in which they extracted what turned out to be a loot of 70 coins.

“With the help of his training, Thibodaux was anesthetized and intubated to allow us to safely handle him during the procedure,” said Christina Ploog, DVM, associate veterinarian at the zoo.

The alligator was given a plastic tube “to protect its mouth and safely pass the tools used to access the coins, such as a camera that helped us guide the recovery of these objects,” the zoo said in its text.

All the coins were successfully extracted, Thibodaux recovered well and returned to his habitat.

The zoo asked its visitors not to throw coins into any body of water, because if the animals ingest these metal objects they could suffer serious damage to their health.