Today the wildlife officers are heading back to the forest to help a poor giant sustaining grievous all over his body. It is believed that the elephant had been hit by a trap gun and had been injured about one month back.
Villagers had alerted the officials that they had seen the elephant limping and after a search of several days elephant was located. Although the elephant is in severe condition, he is not docile towards the strangers. Therefore sedation is essential prior to closer inspection and starting the treatment. Before entering in to the thick dark forest, they prepared the sedative drugs in advance.
Armed with the necessary equipment and medicines the team entered in to the deep forest. They could spot the distressed giant through the thick vines and bushes. They darted the elephant taking the aim. Once immobilized they were able to conduct a proper medical examination and provide dressing for his wound. But unfortunately the elephant was fallen in to his knees and the head hit on the ground. This is an extremely dangerous posture for an elephant’s health. It was crucial that the elephant was made to lie on the ground.
Because, the huge weightage on the front part of the body may cause severe damage to the internal organs of the elephant. Therefore they had to take immediate actions. The officers pulled the elephant backward to land the elephant in to the ground to balance the body weight. Thereby they prevented a fatal accident to the elephant.
There was a deep puncture wound in the back area of the elephant. The wound was festering badly with pus dripping out of the wound. It has been infected by the maggots and flies were hovering around the wound.
There was another grievous wound on the front leg too. The wound was too old and it was infested badly with maggots and flies were hovering around the wound. There was another grievous wound on the front leg too. That wound is too old and it was severely infected. The elephant was succumbed to several other external injuries all over its body.
They started dressing the smaller wounds with antiseptic ointment. The elephant was severely weakened and old in age. Therefore they had to be careful and cautious after immobilizing the elephant. It is dangerous to keep the elephant completely immobilized for a longer period under this condition.
The veterinary surgeon detected that pulse rate of the elephant has dropped down. Therefore the veterinary surgeon decided to give half of the dose of revival drug in advance to regain the normal palpitation. They gave half of the dose because the operation hasn’t ended yet.
There are several fatal injuries still has to be treated. Meanwhile they administered injectable containing painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications to ease the pain. Antibiotics were also administered to boost the immunity to expedite the healing process. Saline and hydrogen peroxide were poured in to the deep seated wound and wound was thoroughly cleaned. The necrotic areas were also removed.
Liquid antibiotics swabbed deep within. Pulse rate was calculated by touching the trunk. Iodine solution was applied on the wound. Negasant powder was sprayed to prevent the maggot infestation. The wound was externally smeared with antiseptic fly repellent ointment. Suffering from injuries and infections, the condition of this wild elephant was so miserable.
Especially, when it consider the wild elephants, their situation become more grave, as they can’t express their pain and many wild elephants die silently in the forest without being noticed by anyone.
As the initial treatments are over for the first day, the veterinary surgeon administered the rest amount of revival drug to the ear vein of the elephant. He flapped the ear of the elephant to expedite the incorporation of the revival drug with the blood stream.
As the elephant is very old and his condition was severe, it is not wise to keep this elephant recumbent fir a long time. Therefore the sedation should be reversed as soon as possible. After a strenuous effort, elephant woke up and staggered to his his feet. His condition will be continuously monitored and the elephant is to be treated continuously until he gains a complete recovery.
