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| Monday, 17 May 2004 |
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Pinnawala elephant deaths : Wildlife Veterinarians' Association explains The Sri Lanka Wildlife Veterinarians' Association would like to enlighten the public about the real situation of the Elephant Orphanage, Pinnawala. For the past three years only three elephant calves and one adult female have died at the Elephant Orphanage. The details of these deaths are stated below, states the Sri Lanka Veterinarians' Association in a press release yesterday. "Binari" - The first calf of the female "Sharmi". This calf was born in September 2001 and had a head injury due to the aggressive behaviour of the mother. She survived for more than one year due to the dedicated veterinary care and the attention rendered by the staff. Though every effort was given she died due to complications of her injury. First calf of the female Elephant "Lasanda" - This calf died soon after birth due to abnormal maternal behaviour. "Lasanda" was sedated to rescue the baby but unfortunately it was already dead when it was separated. First calf of the female elephant "Nikini" - Nikini was a sick and abandoned calf when she was brought to the orphanage and have been a weak animal throughout. Her pregnancy was detected by the vets and she was given high nutritional feed and special care but she had complications throughout her pregnancy which were treated promptly. In the mean time Pinnawala vets consulted local and international consultants and treated her accordingly with close monitoring. She was very ill at the latter stages of her gestation period and had a dystocia at the time of parturition. After delivering a still born calf she has not recovered completely and she is still under medication. "Kirimenika"- She was an adult female who had a congenital abnormality. As a result she could not swallow solids. She used to chew feeds, swallow only the juice and drop the cud. Therefore she had been fed with milk daily as an additional nutritional supplement throughout her life. Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is one of the projects of National Zoological Gardens and it falls under the same administration. The objective of the Pinnawala elephant orphanage when initiated is to take care of abandoned, orphaned or injured wild elephants/calves which later became a breeding centre. Though great care and attention is paid to the animals some of them had/have inborn weaknesses ("Nikini"), irreparable damages ("Sama") and congenital abnormalities ("Kirimenika"). Since 1983 veterinary services to the elephant orphanage was rendered by a veterinarian of the National Zoological Gardens and in 1998 a veterinarian was recruited to the Elephant Orphanage. Up to now there had been 26 calves born at the orphanage out of which 12 were born after 1998. All the calves survived other than the three calves mentioned above. Some of the calves that were born at Pinnawala have successfully bred in captivity. When an animal dies a post-mortem has to be performed as early as possible to prevent the carcass getting autolysed which can affect the diagnosis. The post-mortems are performed with the assistance of the veterinary surgeons and pathologists of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science and the reports are submitted to the Head of the Department. Soon after the necropsy the carcass are disposed to prevent contamination. When there is an animal with a serious illness the Pinnawala vets always consult the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science which is the only institute which has relevant laboratory facilities and most knowledgeable and experienced veterinarians in Sri Lanka. |
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