M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Oct 7: The male elephant calf that died on October 5 evening in Betla under the Palamu Tiger Reserve and was postmortemed on October 6 in Latehar by a panel of 3 vet doctors had bronchitis and congestion of the lungs.
Elephants like any mammal have two lungs located in the thoracic cavity between the heart and diaphragm. The PTR elephant calf having bronchitis and lung congestion has caused immense concern and questions.
Latehar district animal husbandry officer Dr Deonath Chourasia said, “I have not seen the findings of the post-mortem conducted by 3 vets namely Dr Ravi Nandan (vet surgeon) and two touring veterinary officers Dr Mira Singh (Betla) and Dr Anil Kerketta (Barwadih) but what they have told me about this elephant calf refers to bronchitis and congestion of the lungs.”
“I have directed our panel vets to preserve the samples of lungs, heart, kidney, stool etc and blood smear of the elephant calf for pathological examinations of each of the samples,” he added.
Dr Chourasia said it would be in the fitness of things where the PTR decides to send the samples collected by the panel for its pathological examination like the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun or Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly.
Dr Chourasia said that the vets have told him that there was some whitish substance in the stomach when it was opened. Its quantity was low and it is possible some of it could have been washed out in the stool.
The elephant calf was rescued by the CRPF jawans and villagers from the north Koyel river water in the Mandal dam on September 9. Since September 10, it was under the care of the Betla National Park personnel but quite suddenly on Wednesday, the elephant calf developed complications leading to its death the same evening.
Sources said all emergency medication was applied to it but in vain as medical advice was sought from zoo doctor O P Sahu by the Betla-based touring veterinary officer Dr Mira Singh.
Sources said the rains and the abrupt change in the climate prior to Wednesday, the day it fell sick further, proved adverse to this elephant calf and the ailment just couldn’t be diagnosed well in time.
Bronchitis and lungs congestion can’t be any single day affair, said a doctor preferring anonymity adding the right diagnosis at the right time just couldn’t happen because as the doctor reiterated wildlife health has to be taken care of by well-trained wildlife doctors and in Betla or for that matter the PTR lacks trained wildlife doctor for decades since its inception in the seventies.
The death has come as a big shock to the PTR management which is facing two pronged attacks one of the people who accuse the PTR management of poor and shabby upkeep of the elephant calf and the second the loss of life of the elephant calf.
Sources said the death of the elephant calf is the tragic result of no wildlife doctor available to the PTR and it is again a big question that in the span of 44 or 45 years of PTR, no government be it the undivided Bihar or Jharkhand carved out of Bihar ever found it necessary to have a 24×7 wildlife treatment centre here by trained doctors.
Dr Chourasia further said, “Today I had a very tight schedule. I had a review meeting with our vaccinators and personnel who conduct artificial insemination in Balumath and hence could not get time to have a look at the findings of the postmortem conducted on the elephant calf.”
