The elephant was suffering from unspeakable pain when the team of wildlife officers found him. The crocodile bite was too severe, even to deprive some flesh from the elephant’s body.
At the time when the wildlife team reached there, he was drinking water near a lake. They observed the giant from the distance. Reaching the elephant at once is dangerous. Because the elephant may misunderstand it as attempt to harm him. Therefore before starting the treatment, it is essential to make the elephant unconscious.
Darting is the popular and most successful method to make the elephant unconscious. Darting means incorporation of anesthetic drug in to elephant’s body via shooting like action using a tranquilizer gun. They shot the anesthetic drug with tranquilizer gun. But the elephant is still in its normal condition. Since this is a massive elephant, it seems that normal dose of anesthetic is not enough for this elephant to make unconscious. After three times of darting finally they could make the elephant immobilized. The giant remained stand still. Now it’s safe to start the operation.
The veterinary officers came in to action. This is a very risky operation, since the situation could be dangerous if the elephant regain the consciousness before finishing the operation. The veterinary officer carefully inspected the injured area. He realized that situation is critical. Poor animal is severely injured. If the elephant is not given immediate treatment it may die soon. First he injected Anti inflammatory and long acting antibiotics aid a speedy recovery.
Some pieces of flesh were hanging out of the body. The veterinary surgeon cut and removed the hanging flesh using a surgical scissor. Then started treating the injured area. He cleansed the place thoroughly with hydrogen peroxide to disinfect. Then packed some medicine on the injured area .
It is gentian violet. It took several hours to finish the operation. This was done amidst limited resources in a jungle. But the dedicated wildlife officers overcame all the obstacles and did their best on behalf of this poor animal. The elephant is still immobile due to unconsciousness. They injected revival drug to the tail of the elephant, to regain its consciousness. It marks the end of another difficult, yet successful operation. The veterinary officers will continuously monitor the status of the elephant, until it gets a full recovery.