Video: Zookeeper saves baby tapir with mouth-to-snout resuscitation

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The moment a quick-thinking zookeeper saves the life of a baby tapir by giving it mouth-to-snout resuscitation has been caught on camera.

After giving birth the her baby, the newborn's mother, Rhinny, struggled to free her calf from its amniotic sac, so staff at the Denver Zoo rushed in to do it for her.

The footage shoes zookeeper Rebecca McCloskey and vet Gwen Jankowski clean the baby before administering resuscitation techniques.

Ms McCloskey told ninemsn.com: "His nose was plugged with fluid, so I didn't have to worry about air intake through his nose, so I just opened his mouth wide as possible, got as good of a seal around his mouth with mine as I could and puffed some air."

According to CBS Local, she added: "This was a first-time experience. It's one of those things ... you know the basics of what has to happen and you just figure out how to get it there. It's kind of that mummy instinct that takes over."

After a few minutes the newborn calf, named Dumadi, began breathing on its own and the baby and its mother are now both doing well.

Ms Jankowski added: "The baby's doing wonderfully. In fact, I haven't seen him very much, which means he's doing most excellent and we're all excited."

See the video below:


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