In a rare surgery, a team of veterinary doctors removed a 300 gm tumour from the mouth of a python at the Kamla Nehru zoo in Indore, India.

The zoo staff had noticed that the python had stopped eating and alerted the doctors, who found a rapidly growing tumour in the lower jaw of its mouth. They tried to control it through medicines and decided on the surgery after the approach failed.

The animal would have died had it been left untreated, said doctors.

The surgery – a first in India – posed many challenges.

“There was no information on how to administer anaesthesia. We struggled to figure out the dosage and route,” said Dr Uttam Yadav, director of the zoo, who was also part of the operating team.

The doctors researched, consulted several experts, even spoke to their peers in Japan to plan the surgery.

A team of senior veterinarians led by Yadav and Dr BP Shukla from Mhow veterinary college performed the complex operation, which lasted for four hours.

The snake was administered anaesthesia at a spot four inches above its anus. Though the reptile took one-and-a-half hour to fall unconscious, the doctors did not increase the dosage, fearing for its life.

They then cut through the mouth to reach the tumour, which turned out to be non-malignant.

The 27-kg, 13-feet and 12-year-old snake is recovering well and is expected to regain its full functionality soon.

The surgery was carried out in the last week of August but was announced only recently.