Treatment for injured jumbo in TN going well, forest officials say

The animal will try chewing sugarcane and grass completely in the coming days when its pain recovers.

Injured female elephant being treated at Varagaliyar near Topslip in the Ulanthy forest range

COIMBATORE: Treatment for the injured female elephant, which was captured from Athimathiyanur, continued at Varagaliyar near Topslip in the Ulanthy forest range on Saturday. On Saturday, Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) Veterinary assistant surgeon E Vijayaragavan administered injections to the animal to treat the wound on her mouth and to improve her health, since the animal is lean, as it didn’t eat food for the past few days.

A video of the same elephant trying to kick Coimbatore forest veterinarian A Sukumar during the treatment, by raising her right hind leg, when was captured at Athimathiyanur near Karamadai for being unable to bear the injection pain went viral on social media. Sukumar luckily escaped after moving away from the kick.

However, sources from Ulanthy range said that the animal has been tied and is being treated inside the Kraal (a wooden enclosure) and is cooperating well on Saturday.

“The animal will try chewing sugarcane and grass completely in the coming days when its pain recovers. It has been given six litres of IV on Saturday,” a forest department source said. Meanwhile, Bomman has started taking care of a five-month-old orphaned elephant calf at Theppakkadu in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris district since Friday morning. 

The Tamil Nadu forest department has decided to raise the animal at Theppakkadu, since efforts taken to reunite the calf with its herd went in vain as the calf was abandoned by its herd at Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district on March 9.

“The male elephant is fed only milk and right from the first day, it has started mingling with Bomman. Bellie will also help Bomman in raising the calf soon. We have been taking precautions to protect the animal from sunlight and cold. It is isolated from other elephants and veterinary assistant surgeon K Rajesh Kumar is monitoring the animal's health,” said a forest range officer.