In a major setback to Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, a seven-year old Asian male elephant, Rajveer, died all of a sudden on November 10 in its enclosure.
Harpal Singh, Block Officer Animal Management at the zoo, said Rajveer was born here in 2007. He was sharp, naughty and was in very good health but for sometime, he was not feeling well and was under our veterinary doctors’ observation.“The post-mortem of the dead jumbo was conducted by a team of zoo veterinarians. The preliminary findings were indicative of acute general septicemia which led to his sudden death. The samples had been sent to GADVASU ludhiana for detailed investigations,” added Singh. According to medical experts, general septicemia has an extremely variable clinical course, the entry of bacteria into the blood stream is a relatively frequent occurrence and it is not a communicable disease.
After the death of this elephant calf, only five Asiatic elephants are left in the enclosure. However, Zoo authorities have started taking extra precautionary measures, keeping in view the well being of other animals. “Rest of the animals are quite healthy and in good conditions,” said Singh.