Another Elephant story

obmar · Another Elephant story

Nation
Sunday July 9, 2006

Baby elephant on the road to recovery

BY SIMON KHOO

TEMERLOH: Seventeen-month-old elephant Mardos is showing signs of recovering from his fractured legs.

Mardos has been eating and sleeping well despite being put on drips and his legs supported by a splint, said Department of Wildlife and National Parks veterinarian Dr Abraham Mathew.

Mardos slipped and fractured its legs while being transported with an adult elephant for a show at a school on July 1.

Dr Abraham said it was too early to gauge the recovery rate and an evaluation would be made in six weeks.

NURSING A JUMBO: (From left) Dr Abraham, Kuala Gandah Elephant Unit head Nasharuddin Othman and a worker trying to comfort Mardos who is with a splint to support the fractured leg at the conservation centre near Temerloh Saturday.
“Since this is just the first week, we can’t really give a definite description of the extent of Mardos’ injuries.

“As long as he is eating and resting well, we are confident Mardos will pull through,” he said at the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah, about 40km from here.

Dr Abraham said Mardos’ trainer, Prem Kumar, 25, had been by his side daily to keep him company.

He said it was quite difficult for Mardos in the few days after his fall as he was in pain and needed emotional support.

“Luckily, Mardos is attached to Prem Kumar who has been taking care of him since he was rescued from a well,” he said.

On the average, Mardos consumes about 20 litres of milk a day, together with a mixture of banana, rice, sugar and fruits.

“We also feed him banana stems and help him to do some ‘standing’ exercises,” he said.

Mardos now weighs about 360kg.

Dr Abraham said Mardos would likely be walking with a permanent limp due to the injuries.

He said there was nothing much they could do as the elephant was injured around the knees and this made corrective surgery difficult.

obmar

July 14, 2006 19:43 PM

Wildlife Dept To Improve Procedures For Catching, Moving Elephants

KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 (Bernama) -- The Wildlife and National Parks Department will improve procedures involving the catching and moving of elephants following the death of a calf elephant and the injury of another under its care recently.

Its director-general, Datuk Musa Nordin, said Friday the department was concerned over the death of "Mat Chepor" on June 21 and the injury of "Mados" on July 1.

"An investigation is being conducted and it is hoped that the inputs will enable the department's wildlife in-situ and ex-situ conservation procedures to be strengthened," he said in a statement.

Musa said that according to the department's records, "Mat Chepor" was caught in Lenggong, Perak, on June 19 after villagers complained that the calf was destroying their crops in Felcra Stang, Lenggong.

He said that after it was tied up and well taken care of for three days, the calf was injected with tranquilliser and removed from the jungle via a logging track to be sent to the National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) in Kuala Gandah.

Musa said that during the trip of about 1.2 km in a four-wheel drive vehicle (as the jungle area was inaccessible to lorries), the calf fell and lost consciousness.

Despite being given immediate medical treatment by a veterinary doctor of the department, the elephant died the following day.

Musa said that in the case of "Mados", the calf elephant was injured when it was brought along with another calf to a public awareness programme for schools in Temerloh on July 1.

"An accident occurred whereby Mados fell when being transported in a lorry from NECC to the school," he said.

An examination revealed that the calf had sprained one of its legs, and NECC staff were taking turns to take care of it round the clock and that it was recovering.

Musa said the department welcomed the people's criticism, as well as support for the programme to conserve wild elephants which were facing a growing threat following the opening of agricultural land.

He said that since it was established in 1974, the department's unit to catch and relocate elephants had caught and relocated 342 elephants including 20 calf elephants that got separated from the herd.

-- BERNAMA

The Inquisitor

Hey, obmar,

It's definitely important to properly relocate elephants, it's just something that we don't really think about much in the West.

obmar

Orphaned baby elephants can still be OK
but orphaned adults ones can cause a lot
of damages to property...