Two elephant calves die of Herpes in Chhattisgarh

Two elephant calves have died of Herpes virus infection over the last two days at a rescue centre for wild elephants in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district, a forest official said on Saturday

Two elephant calves have died of Herpes virus infection over the last two days at a rescue centre for wild elephants in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district, a forest official said on Saturday.

On Friday, another calf that was kept separately as it also had the same symptoms died. (HT file photo/image for representation)

“One calf died on Thursday while the other....at Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre of the Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday. Their post-mortem reports...(are awaited),” said principal chief conservation of forest (wildlife) P V Narsingh Rao.

Officials said the viscera samples of the calves have been sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, in Uttar Pradesh.

The mothers of the calves were Kumki and brought to Chhattisgarh from Karnataka to tackle the human-elephant conflict.

Kumki is the term used for trained captive elephants used in operations to trap wild elephants, sometimes to rescue or to provide medical treatment to an injured or trapped wild elephant.

Officials said that on Wednesday, a male calf first showed symptoms of the infection. Despite best efforts by veterinarians, it could not be saved, and the calf died on Thursday.

On Friday, another calf that was kept separately as it also had the same symptoms died.

Their primary investigation confirmed they were suffering from herpes virus infection which affects elephants below 10 years of age.

After the deaths, other elephants in the rescue centre have been shifted to other places.

...