Surgery success for fearful mule Zula

Fifteen-year-old Zula, who resides at Town Barton Farm in Devon, required surgery after the discovery of a sarcoid on his underbelly in August 2024.

However, achieving the surgery was a big undertaking for our Veterinary team. Zula displayed nervous behaviour, with a tendency to kick out when the vets attempted to examine the tumour.

Zula’s case brought together our Farm, Veterinary and Behaviour teams, and they worked together to build a behaviour shaping plan for him.

Building Zula’s confidence

Kayna Prescott, our Lead in Equine Behaviour, says: “Because Zula was so nervous of people touching the affected area and new situations, we started a shaping plan in his familiar environment surrounded by his mule and human friends.

“We were concerned that transporting Zula to our donkey hospital would have brought many new sights and sounds, which could have been too stressful for Zula and set his training back.

“The priority for us was to build Zula’s confidence in a place he knew, so we could provide a good experience for his surgery and aftercare.”

As part of the shaping plan, Zula’s groom Maya Willis spent every day building his confidence ahead of the surgery.

This involved increasing his confidence with being caught, introducing a shaping plan to help him remain calm while having an pre-operation injection, and increasing the amount that his underbelly is touched.

To ensure that we could provide Zula with good aftercare, Maya showed him how medical swabs would be used on the wound and helped him remain relaxed during prospective future check-ups.

Kayna says: “Maya was absolutely brilliant. She was dedicated to Zula’s training every day, taking the time to make sure he was relaxed. She did an excellent job preparing him for the procedure.

“I saw Zula grow in confidence thanks to Maya’s dedication. Mules have a great sense of self-preservation, more so than donkeys.

“While this was an urgent situation, especially as sarcoids can spread and even return once treated, we could not rush Zula’s progress.

“Had we carried out the surgery without the shaping plan, we would have struggled to give Zula the aftercare he needed as he would not have let us near the operation site.

“It was important we took it slow at the beginning to ensure that, in the long-term, he could be seen by vets again if needed and remain calm during any more examinations.”

Zula’s surgery site was different to the hospital environment most of our donkeys are operated in.

He underwent laser surgery to remove the tumour in Town Barton’s uncovered sand school, a space used as an extra enrichment area for its resident mules and donkeys.

Veterinary Surgeon Hannah Boocock says: “While we would rather have operated on Zula in a hospital environment because it’s cleaner and we have specialised staff, it was important that he could stay at home with his attentive grooms who he knew really well.

“Mules can find changes more stressful than donkeys, so keeping him at Town Barton was the right choice for him.

“Outside of the sanctuary, field surgery is very common so we felt it was an appropriate thing to do for Zula. Because he was in his familiar environment with his regular handlers, we felt more confident going ahead with the procedure.

“Our main job was to ensure all the pre-operation training and planning went ahead smoothly.

“The biggest challenge of this operation was waiting for the right weather! Zula was amazing and he made very good progress.”

To achieve the best results, Hannah worked closely with Maya and Kayna to brief them on how best to preserve Zula’s wellbeing before and after the operation.

Plenty of patience was required – at first, Zula wouldn’t allow Hannah to lead him, but with lots of reassurance from Maya and positive reinforcement, he quickly began to trust her.

With Hannah advising, Maya and Kayna worked hard in the background in the lead-up to the surgery, repeating every small step of what would happen on the day until Zula was confident throughout.

Kayna says: “We led Zula into the sand school every few days in the weeks before his surgery. He demonstrated nervous behaviour during the first visit, but by the third or fourth session, he remained relaxed and allowed us to handle him.

“Maya and I talked with Hannah about every step of the procedure, and we practiced these processes with Zula. We handled him as the vets would, carried out mock injections and walked to the spot that surgery would take place.

“Then we introduced Hannah to repeat these steps with Zula so he was familiar with everyone involved. We wanted every stage, no matter how small, to become familiar to Zula so he remained calm throughout.”

Successful surgery

On the day of the operation, Zula was given a general anaesthetic and was back on his feet within an hour.

Hannah says: “The surgery went very well and Zula remained stable under anaesthetic. When waking up from the procedure, he sat up, thought about it and got up in one go, with a little bit of help from myself. Because Zula knew where he was, he was very calm and didn’t panic.

“He has recovered well and the wound has healed excellently. The sarcoid was benign so it is unlikely to come back and as far as we could tell, we removed the entirety of the tumour, which is great news.”

Kayna adds: “The fact Zula’s surgery was a complete success demonstrates the importance of communication and forward planning between our teams.

“Going forward, we will continue to try and grow Zula’s confidence with new situations and keep practicing his experiences with the vets, just in case he needs to be examined again.

“I am really pleased with how the teams worked together, which made such a big difference to Zula.

“Sarcoids are painful and uncomfortable if not treated so our work certainly made a difference to his wellbeing.”