Another elephant dies of herpes at Kerala jumbo centre

Herpes viruses can infect a wide range of animals including Asian elephants and cause sores and fever blisters

Another elephant succumbed to herpes at Kerala’s Kottur Elephant Rehabilitation Centre on Tuesday, officials said and added two other calves have been infected and prompted them to quarantine other animals and their keepers to check the spread of the disease there.

The dead elephant. (Sourced)

Herpes viruses can infect a wide range of animals including Asian elephants and cause sores and fever blisters.

On June 28, Sreekutty, a 19-month-old calf, was the first to succumb to the disease at the centre, which houses 16 elephants including 10 calves. Officials said an epidemiology study was underway to find out the source of the infection. An expert team has been constituted to deal with the infection, they added.

State animal husbandry minister J Chinchu Rani said they are closely watching the situation and that experts were camping at the centre to contain the spread and save the lives of other elephants. Officials said animals and keepers, who have been quarantined, were being administered anti-viral drugs.

A major tourist attraction, the centre has been closed for visitors for over a year now because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier, two mahouts and two other workers at the Centre were tested positive for Covid-19. They have since recovered.

Authorities are planning to develop Kottur, 35 km away from the state capital, into a mini “jumbo township” with an elephant museum, mahout training centre, a super-speciality hospital, a retirement home and crematorium for pachyderms on the lines of Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. Once fully operational, the elephants will be set free in 65 hectares of forest land surrounded by trenches, said officials.

Usually abandoned and injured animals are admitted to the centre. The forest department can also bring captive elephants, which are often ill-treated and overworked by their owners and admit them there. According to the last elephant census, the state has 507 captive jumbos.