Dudhwa to maintain health card of jumbos
LAKHIMPURKHERI: Taking lessons from a number of casualties of elephants from diseases that go undetected, the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve administration has resolved to implement a unique health card plan for jumbos in the reserve.
Under the novel initiative, the veterinary doctors will conduct a periodical medical check-up of each and every domestic elephant in the reserve and maintain their health record.
“The periodical check-up would help detect any unnoticed ailment or behaviour change in the elephants and help us to pro- vide timely treatment to them. The observations of experts during periodical check-ups would be recorded on the health card of every domestic elephants in the reserve,” said Ramesh Pandey, field director, Dudhwa reserve.
De-worming treatment and vaccination of elephants would also be provided to jumbos as and when required, said Pandey.
The first such exercise will be held between July 21 to July 24 when eminent experts from Assam Dr KK Sharma and Dr Parikshit will examine Dudhwa elephants at their base camps.
“We have named the initiative as health and happiness camp. On completion of camp on July 24, a party would be held for elephants at each of the four base camps where elephants would be served menu of their choice, which include sugarcane, jaggery, bananas, apples, green fodder etc,” said Pandey.
“The health card with five sections would incorporate all details of the elephant, including its name, age, date of birth, sex, biological traits, gait, findings of pathological history and season of its Musth (a periodic condition in male elephants, characterized by highly aggressive behavior and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones,” said Pandey while insisting that need for such health card was felt when a young elephant Batalik died of multiple organ failure on June 15. “We came to know after autopsy that its abdomen was infested with worms which caused several other liver and blood related complexities. In earlier elephant casualties the autopsy disclosed serious ailments which if detected in time might have saved the jumbos,” said Pandey.