Tusker elephant fallen lifelessly with severe injury received treatment and given a hope for life

TUSKER! This injured baby tusker was spotted by the villagers. They have got the wildlife officers to come for help, but getting to the place where the injured animal is seems difficult because of the surrounding thorny bushes and trees. A man is trying to calm down the panicked giant, while a few others are trying to clear the area to get to the tusker. They are splashing water on the animal to revive him and wash off the mud. He seems to have one infected abscess full of maggots. Another wound is surrounded by flies. A veterinarian is cleaning the back of the ear of the baby tusker, as that is the easiest place to connect the canula to administer the saline as the skin here is thin and veins are easily seen. The IV is now connected and plastered. An officer is holding the tusker's ear to prevent from flapping. Usually a tusker is given 10-15 bottles of saline mixed with dextrose to boost energy. Antibiotics are also mixed into saline and administered through the ear vein. The dosages are determined by the body weight. The wildlife team takes a lot of effort to keep the tusker calm during this 2-3 hour treatment period. And that isn't an easy task because these are injured, untamed, panicked wild elephants, unlike the ones we see at the elephant orphanage. However, the wildlife officers always make every possible effort to save the animal's life and reduce the discomfort to a minimum. The tusker falls asleep soon after the medicines flush into the bloodstream. The opened wounds get sprayed with healing medicine too. This baby tusker must have got shot by a farmer of a nearby cultivation land. Usually when the elephants get injured, they somehow survive for about a week and when the wounds get infected, they become weak and collapse. That's when the passers-by notice the sick elephants and call the wildlife officers for help. Sometimes, when the officers get there, they are already too late to save the life of the animal. This human-elephant conflict is a major issue in the rural areas of Sri Lanka. Jungle areas get cleared for cultivation and eventually, the animals move into the territory of the people and get shot or get caught by jaw bombs called Hakkapadas. People too often lose their lives and properties in this conflict. The elephant slightly moved the body, showing signs of regaining the life. The elephant is to be treated continuously. We'll upload the part 2 of this treatment mission soon.