COIMBATORE: Wildlife veterinarians here are upset about the damning allegations following the death of a sick and pregnant female wild elephant in the Maruthamalai foothills near Coimbatore last month.
A four-member team of experienced forest vets who were involved in its treatment were widely panned online by animal lovers for their failure in detecting its pregnancy beforehand, and especially when it was under their care for days before its death.
These vets claimed limitations in detecting the foetus of a wild elephant and that too without appropriate scanners.
As reported earlier the pregnancy came to light only during the postmortem on May 21. This disconcerting discovery gave rise to widespread online condemnation of the veterinarians involved as the animal had been treated for four days since May 17 when it was found unable to move as its calf loitered around it, as was seen in a widely shared photograph.
Animal lovers were also aghast and suspected medical oversight.
Many social media users blamed the veterinarians for the failure in detecting the pregnancy during the treatment and lifting the pregnant elephant using a crane by using a sling.
Moreover, netizens claimed hydrotherapy conducted by the vets could be one of the reasons for the animal's death.
Veterinarians involved in the treatment pointed out that they can't find out about pregnancy by sensing the belly like humans. Only specialised scans, which are not available in the market, and other multiple interval hormonal tests can reveal it.
The pregnancy can be judged by external signs in elephants only after 18 months of gestation. However, in this case, the foetus was aged only 12 to 15 months, vets argued.
One of the veterinarians told TNIE that they had treated the sick female elephant, suspecting it was pregnant.
"This is also the routine guideline they follow while treating any female wild animal that is breedable. Moreover, the female elephant has a calf aged around three years. The intercalving period (the time span between two consecutive births) is four to five years. Hence, we assumed that this female elephant was pregnant," the vet said.
"We usually check the movement of the foetus by pressing the palms on the belly of the captive elephants. This is possible in captive elephants more than 15 months old. However, this is quite difficult in checking the pregnancy of wild elephants. In fact, we can also estimate pregnancy from the size of the mammary glands, liquid discharge and the size of the belly. However, there were no such symptoms in the female elephant that we treated," the veterinarian added.
"Social media users and a few so-called animal lovers are throwing baseless charges against us without understanding the veterinary care given to the elephant round the clock. We had given continuous intravenous fluid therapy in a standing position in a wild elephant, a first in Tamil Nadu. Such allegations demoralise us," another veterinarian noted.
As reported earlier the postmortem had also revealed plastic bags in the stomach of the pregnant elephant. It is suspected it had consumed the food waste at the old dumping yard at the Maruthamalai foothills.