Entrepreneur's vision: restore sight to animals

Lions, tigers, bears and house pets among the animals who have been helped by the lenses developed by a German firm
By Deborah Cole, Agence France-PresseJuly 17, 2009

Lions, giraffes, tigers, rabbits, bears, rhinoceros and even owls can go blind from cataracts, but an east German firm has an answer: Custom-made "contact lenses."

The procedure is delicate, to say the least, and requires special training for veterinarians.

But it has propelled tiny S&V Technologies, founded by Bavarian chemist and entrepreneur Christine Kreiner in the former communist east, to global leadership in a highly specialized field.

The acrylic intraocular lenses are implanted into animals' eyes when their vision has clouded to the point of total impairment, and are fitted for various species, from cat-eye-sized to fist-width for rhinos.

"Cataracts generally means blindness for animals, unlike for humans," said the head of the company's veterinary division, Ingeborg Fromberg.

"And because animals have short life spans, it means losing quality of life in a greater share of that life."