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Ben Westcott

A 21-year-old harbour seal has had her sight partially restored, after vets at Ocean Park performed the city's first cataract surgery on a marine mammal.
The surgery is likely to be needed again as the park's seal population gets older - with at least five, aged between seven and 18, developing cataracts.
Ocean Park marine mammal supervisor Gavin Choi said the harbour seal, named Rose, first showed signs of her condition about nine years ago.
"She couldn't focus, she ignored trainers and wouldn't look them in the eye," he said. "They checked up on Rose and discovered she had cataracts."
As her condition grew worse, leading to clashes with other seals, the park decided to remove the cataract.
In an hour-long surgery, Ocean Park's chief veterinarian, Paolo Martelli, said an ophthalmologist made a small cut on Rose's cornea and used ultrasonic equipment to emulsify and then remove the lens.
"The challenge with seals is they have a large lens, probably 10 or 15 times larger than ours," he said. "When it loses its transparency it becomes extremely hard."
Martelli said in Rose's case about half the lens had become hard, meaning it had to be manually cut in four and removed through the small hole in her cornea.
After two months of recovery, where her time in the water was limited and she required eye drops five times a day, Rose's quality of life improved considerably and she was exploring and playing again.
"She's more active now," Choi said. "She's just like the way she was when we first met. We're happy to see that."
Martelli said at least five more seals in the park, the youngest aged seven, would probably require similar procedures over the coming years as Ocean Park's animal population continued to age. The average life expectancy of a harbour seal is 25 to 35 years.
"We are trying to see which one's the highest priority from the view of comfort for the animal, so we're trying to find the animal that would benefit the most from this and we haven't really come to a final conclusion yet," he said.
Martelli said there would be no further surgery until November, due to the hot weather.


'I can seal clearly now': Successful cataract removal gives Hong Kong's Ocean Park mammal a new lease of life

Rose the harbour seal is back to her curious and playful self at Ocean Park following the successful removal of a cataract in her right eye. Photo: Bruce Yan

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Marine mammal at Ocean Park gets new lease of life in city-first surgery
