The chemical nicotine, formerly used for immobilising stray dogs in South America, was used for tranquillising unruly domesticated elephants in the country in the 70s.
Jacob Cheeran, an eminent elephant veterinarian who first introduced “the art of tranquilising elephants” in the country, and perhaps even in the world, shared his experience of anaesthetising pachyderms on the 60th anniversary of his career.
Although the method was effective on stray dogs in South America in the 50s, the recorded history of chemical immobilisation in elephants began in 1976 with the tranquillisation of the elephant called Kizhakke Veetil Damodaran that ran amok at Thirunellayi in Palakkad by Mr. Cheeran. It took three shots to tranquilise the elephant.
“We had no idea then how to use the gun properly and the right dose to be applied. There were two charges in the gun – one for propelling the syringe from the gun and another to inject the drug. I used it in a way I thought would be right. But when I first pulled the trigger, I smelt the strong odour of nicotine, realising that I had put the syringe charge inside the gun the wrong way. On the second attempt, it was done properly. But the animal was only partially down. So I had to give one more dose, but a lighter one,” said Mr. Cheeran.
He had imported the charging gun and the drug from Georgia at the instruction of his professor. The effort to bring the device and the drug from the erstwhile Madras was quite difficult, he said.
“It was during the Emergency period that we ordered the consignment after obtaining the clearance and it reached Madras (Chennai) by air. It was not possible to carry weapons such as guns during the Emergency. But I brought it to Thrissur on an overnight train by hiding it. It was only after the train reached Thrissur that I could breathe properly,” said Mr. Cheeran.
“I immobilised 23 elephants with the same drug. Later, new drugs such as xylazine entered the market and they are widely used now,” he said.
In a career spanning six decades, Mr. Cheeran has tranquillised hundreds of elephants, both within the State and outside. He pointed out great care has to be taken while anaesthetising elephants in terms of keeping it within the safety margin of anaesthetics.
“As low as 1 mg drug is enough to immobilise an animal that weighs 250 kg. Often, there would be mahouts atop restive elephants. One can simply guess what would happen if there was a misfiring,” he said with a laugh.
A retired professor of veterinary medicine, he currently resides in Thrissur.
