PALAKKAD: The forest department is gearing up to perform eye surgery on wild elephant PT 7, which has been in confinement since its capture from the Dhoni forest region in Palakkad months ago. The surgery is aimed at setting right the elephant’s loss of sight in its right eye.
An expert team of doctors led by the forest department’s chief veterinary surgeon Arun Sakaria examined the elephant this week and found that it has completely lost vision in the right eye.
They suspect that air gun pellet shots fired by residents, while it was causing trouble in the human habitats, might have hit its eye. However, forest officials said the real reason for the loss of eyesight could be determined only after a thorough examination. “Except for the loss of eyesight and a minor swelling on the leg, the tusker is perfectly healthy,” said a doctor.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) Kura Sreenivas said the surgery date has not been decided yet. About the swelling on the feet, he said it is normal because the tusker has been standing in one place for a long time.