In an apparent first, a rare white tiger had surgery Tuesday on its right back knee at an animal hospital in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, with veterinarians declaring the five-hour operation a success.
The 9-month-old male from Tobu Zoo in Saitama Prefecture had trouble walking after displacing a patella.
The animal was taken to the College of Bioresource Sciences at Kanagawa's Nihon University to undergo the operation.
"The surgery was much more difficult than we expected. We will keep an eye on the white tiger until it can walk again," said Kazuya Edamura, who led the operation.