ANIMAL MAGIC
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Earlier this month, Woburn Safari Park held a special fundraising day for the Mercedes-Benz Mobile Eye Surgery Unit. it was eye surgeon Professor Eric Arnett who first had the idea for the unit, when he visited India and learnt that five million people were blind, many of them with cataract conditions which could easily be rectified through surgery.
Mercedes Benz donated an Atege six-tonne truck with a 4,6litre diesel engine and work is now under way to equip the vehicle, which will need surgical and anaesthetic facilities as well as ophthalmic equipment, at a cost of around 250,000. With help from the money raised at Woburn it is hoped that the first operations will take place next year. The fund-raising day also gave groups of disadvantaged children the chance to have close contact with wild animals, in particular those native to India, including elephants, Bengal tigers and several score of rhesus monkeys. Sounds like atop day out and with excellent results!
Actually when it comes to safari parks, the Hawk is somewhat squeamish, as the last time he visited one, a gang of hyperactive baboons did unspeakable things to the aerial on his beloved Reliant Robin.