Recently, a veterinarian performed the first hood graft surgery on a big cat to save the eye of a tiger called Ratna. The 17-year old Sumatran tiger resides at Shepreth Wildlife Park, England, and until recently, suffered from an eye-related condition called a corneal ulcer.
After the Surgery, the Tiger Made a Full Recovery
After Ratna’s full recovery, the veterinarian who took care of the tiger has stated that her eyesight was successfully restored. After veterinarians removed a cataract from her left eye in 2017, Ratna developed a different problem in her conjunctiva or the pink part of the eyeball. People who cared for the animal at the time noticed her eyeball was deteriorating and turning bright red, which reminded them of the symptoms of a fractured blood vessel.
Surgeon Dr. David Williams Operated On the Tiger and Supervised Her Recovery
Surgeon Dr. Williams hails from the University of Cambridge’s Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital, and he performed the operation to restore the eyesight of the Sumatran tiger. While the procedure has never been done on big cats, it is not uncommon in domestic dogs and cats. For Ratna, it was completed in very much the same way but with a lot more anesthesia.
Williams believed that Ratna must have hurt her eye on a shard of bamboo in her enclosure. After the operation, he carefully supervised the post-surgery monitoring and daily eye drops for two months. He then declared the tiger’s full recovery. Ratna was moved to Shepreth together with her daughter back in 2019. There she developed a habit of sitting on the top platform of her new enclosure. When getting up and down the platform became a struggle for Ratna, and her coordination started failing, her handlers thought that her cornea was getting worse.
According to Williams, the Sumatran tiger exhibited incredible patience for human hands on her face. He also stated that Ratna is now absolutely fine, and no one would even be able to notice that anything had been wrong.
Director Apologizes to Lukas Gage After Mocking His Apartment on Zoom
Euphoria actor Lukas Gage was auditioning for a role via Zoom in August. Right before the actor got to audition, the director commented on Gage’s “tiny apartment” without realizing his microphone wasn’t muted.
psa if youre a shit talking director make sure to mute ur shit on zoom mtgings pic.twitter.com/PTgMZcRhEw
— lukas gage (@lukasgage) November 20, 2020
Who Is the Director?
Lukas Gage uploaded the video to his Twitter account without naming the director who’s also not seen in the video. However, British director Tristram Shapeero regretted what he did and apologized with an open letter, taking the blame.
Before publishing his open letter, Shapeero told a TMZ journalist that he didn’t have any apology because he didn’t say anything bad. However, the director felt obliged to apologize to Lukas Gage.
Shapeero has previously directed episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Community. The director claims that his criticisms were not based on Lukas Gage’s financial situation but where instead an “appreciation” of the conditions actors are forced to work in during the pandemic.
Lukas Gage Didn’t Upload the Video Right Away
As previously stated, the Zoom audition happened in August. However, Lukas Gage didn’t upload the video until November 20. The video was viewed more than 9 million times in just a few days with more than 300,000 likes and retweets.
The actor received support from major figures in the industry, including Seth MacFarlane, Judd Apatow, and Billy Eichner. Most of them encouraged the young actor that his apartment looked just fine and they wished they’d had such a nice place at that age.
Gage took the inappropriate comments pretty well and even made a joke that he needed this job so he could afford a better place. However, PageSix reports that Lukas Gage didn’t get that gig but is now shooting on location in Hawaii with Molly Shannon.
It seems like the young actor got the best of both worlds, he received public support, he got another and probably a better job, and he kept his cool, proving he’s a man of patience and can handle critical situations with a smile on his face.