Acupuncture at the Zoo

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) may have hit the mainstream American circuits only recently, but it has been popular with zoo veterinarians in Singapore for more than ten years.

Giraffes, pythons, sea lions, elephants, and more than 200 other species of animals at the Singapore Zoo have received successful acupuncture and herbal remedy treatments as part of their regular health regimen for the past decade.

Vets at the zoo reported that when Western medical procedures did not effectively treat health problems, they were forced to seek out other solutions.

When one of the orangutans had not responded to prescribed Western medicine for constipation after being on it for one year, a traditional Chinese herbal brew in honey cured the primate in just one week. A cheetah received acupuncture for a fractured leg. Because of the one-inch thickness of the skin on an elephant, their acupuncture treatments require industrial-size needles that sometimes measure 20 centimeters long.

Acupuncture, a popular form of traditional Chinese medicine, works by stimulating blood circulation with microscopic needles (when used on humans) at specific meridian points in the body, harmonizing inner energy, known as Qi.