CHENNAI: A seven-member team of expert veterinarians from Thailand ruled out surgery to treat the rare vision impairment of Madurai temple elephant Parvati, saying it might cause more harm than good. 24-year-old Parvati of Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple of Madurai had been diagnosed with a rare case of lens luxation and cataract; she has lost 60% vision in her left eye and 20% in her right.
In an exclusive interaction with TNIE, Dr Aree Thayananuphat, senior ophthalmologist, and Dr Nikorn Thongthip, associate professor of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University of Thailand, said the innermost layer of cornea in her left eye was damaged. The luxated lens was moving between the front and the back of the eye. It was touching the cornea, causing cloudy vision.
“In such cases, the vision cannot be improved. Surgery is an option, but is riddled with risk.” A surgery to remove the lens might lead to the vitreous and retina getting detached. If that happened, the eye would go permanently blind.
After weighing the odds, the Thai team decided to not recommend surgery to the animal and instead prescribed topical anti-inflammatory drugs that will substantially slow down further deterioration of the elephant’s vision.
The team gave its concluding inputs after a discussion with Dr C Ramani, head of veterinary surgery and radiology in Madras Veterinary College who has been treating the elephant for the past two years, and with Dr KK Sarma, a Padma Shri recipient from Assam popularly known as the elephant doctor. Sources said Dr Ramani would soon be submitting a report about the animal’s examination to Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.
Dr Aree, who has decades of experience treating animals with eye problems, said the occurrence of both lens luxation and cataract was very rare in elephants. “Out of the 1,478 captive elephants in Thailand, we found lens luxation in just four and mature and hyper-mature cataract in seven. We treated one elephant with similar conditions of Parvati about seven years ago and the animal is still able to see.”
“We have to continuously monitor the elephant for any signs of corneal ulcer and give topical antibiotics if required. We cannot completely stop the movement of the lens from posterior to anterior chamber of the eye,” Dr Aree told TNIE.
Dr Nikorn Thongthip, who is leading the team, had performed world’s first urinary bladder surgery on an elephant and removed a 1.7 kg stone. The doctor said Parvati was a relatively young elephant. Her other sensory abilities would compensate for the partial vision loss. “If we can arrest or slow down vision loss, Parvati’s daily routine will not be hampered, at least for a few more years,” The Thai team’s visit was facilitated by Nitirooge Phoneprasert, Consul-General of Royal Thai Consulate-General in Chennai, on the request of State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
Elephant found dead at O-Valley
Coimbatore: A 16-year-old female elephant was found dead in Choondy, bordering the O-Valley and Naduvattam forest, in the Gudalur forest division on Sunday. A fall from a height is suspected to be the reason for death. In the presence of local NGO and villagers, assistant veterinary surgeon K Rajesh Kumar performed a necropsy on Monday. According to the veterinarian, the animal could have slipped from a height and died because of a head injury. “We suspect that the animal could have been pushed by a male during mating.”