VIDEO: How zoo workers did surgery on electric eel
CLEVELAND (WJW) — An electric eel at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo needed stomach surgery to remove several foreign objects it had swallowed.
But the creature is capable of putting out 600 volts, according to zoo officials — enough to seriously injure or even kill a human — so that complicated the procedure.
Cannabis Farmers Market in Cleveland this weekend
“Using a combination of nets and heavy rubber electrician’s gloves, the team was able to transport the eel to the zoo’s hospital and anesthetize them for a CT scan,” reads a Friday Facebook post from the zoo.
(Cleveland Metroparks Zoo) (Cleveland Metroparks Zoo)
Technicians kept the eel damp while removing the objects through its mouth, according to the post.
They were centimeter-sized rocks and metal fragments believed to have come from the bottom of its tank, a spokesperson told FOX 8 News.
The eel, named Tesla, is now doing OK and has been returned to its habitat in the zoo’s Primate, Cat & Aquatics Building.
Local astronomer: ‘Why I won’t drive during eclipse’
Electric eels’ electricity-generating organs have thousands of parts, “arranged like a dry battery,” with the positive pole at the eel’s head and the negative pole at its tail, according to the zoo’s resource library.
It doesn’t shock while still, but while moving and feeding it can send dozens of pulses that can help it find its way around or kill prey.
“Small animals are killed outright, while large mammals become stunned and drown,” the entry reads.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
