Three years ago Ginger, a 50-year-old elephant, was rescued from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. She was found shackled to a tree. With cracked toenails, wounds on her legs, saddle-induced injuries on her back and diminishing eyesight, she was forced to beg and used for joy rides.
Fast forward to 2024 and Ginger is enjoying a bath in a pond, eating watermelons, and going for evening strolls. A sense of calm has replaced her past trauma as she walks up for a routine medical check-up at Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital located inside the Elephant Conservation Care Centre (ECCC), off the NH2 between Agra and Mathura.
The 3,300 kg gentle giant cooperates with the team of vets and staff, who review and treat her condition — deviated limbs, ankylosis, a wound at the base of her ear, and discharge from her eyes — using portable X-ray machines and lasers. Photo-biomodulation therapy helps to rejuvenate the cells around her joint tissues, improve circulation and minimise pain.
Through the eyes of giants
Much before the Ambanis launched Vantara elephant hospital in Jamnagar, Gujarat, earlier this year, roughly 1,200 km away in the obscure Garhi village in Churmura district, ECCC has been redefining the landscape of advanced medical care for pachyderms, sans brouhaha and media glare. Since 2010, the centre has rescued 60 elephants, treated 120 and attended to 200-plus on-site injuries. It achieved a milestone in 2018, setting up an exclusive elephant hospital by the river Yamuna.
Elephant Conservation Care Centre has rescued 60 elephants, treated 120 and attended to 200-plus on-site injuries
“The aim is not to check any boxes, but to develop the ability to provide assistance to elephants in distress,” says Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS. During his road travels in the aughts, Satyanarayan was haunted by the sight of abused elephants on the highways. “They would be walking dehydrated and uncomfortably hot on tarred roads, limping due to foot abscess, traumatised by their injuries, and beaten to obey,” he recalls. “Most often, the adults and calves were trapped and taken from the wild and put through rigorous training — to be domesticated, to follow temple rules, to entertain in circuses, or to bear the load of safari tourists.”
As per Project Elephant’s 2017 census, India has the largest number of wild Asian elephants: estimated at 29,964. “Around 2,980 are in captivity; their trauma begins when poachers separate them from their herd, and their physical health deteriorates when they are compelled to undergo training in captivity,” says Satyanarayan, adding that they conduct awareness programmes with all stakeholders, from forest officials to the police, mahouts and local communities.
At the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital
Every rescue is a challenge
Inside the hospital, veterinary surgeon Ilayaraja Selvaraj examines his patients and explains why elephants in confinement suffer multiple ailments. “In the wild, they are known to roam for miles in search of food and water; their regular walks help maintain strong and healthy feet. Elephants’ feet bear their massive body weight and are like their second heart.”
The 40 elephants under rehab care at ECCC have had gruesome pasts. When an elephant is injured, ill or traumatised, it is imperative to help it regain its confidence. “They are sensitive animals and heal with compassion; over a period of time, their behaviour changes,” says Dr. Selvaraj, who has been with Wildlife SOS for two decades, and got into elephant care in the last five years. “[For instance] we prioritise stimulating their natural behaviour by encouraging them to walk on soft soil in a near-natural environment.”
An elephant in the hospital’s hydrotherapy pool
While the majority of elephants rescued by the ECCC are from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the team has also carried out operations in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Kerala. On tip-offs from informants and trackers, Wildlife SOS collaborates with the police, forest and enforcement departments, and local communities to save elephants from illegal confinement. The rescue is prioritised based on the animal’s neglect, pain, exhaustion and starvation.
ECCC’s most valuable asset: a fully-equipped customised ambulance. A team of at least five rescuers travels to fetch the animal; and the journey to-and-fro often lasts days to weeks. “It is an expensive and elaborate process. We have to verify ground information and send decoys to confirm the exact location,” says Satyanarayan. “It entails a lot of map work — figuring out the distance and the condition of roads and bridges — because we cannot afford to make the rescue journey of an already stressed-out animal any worse.”
There have been occasions when the team has encountered stone-pelting mobs. “There are legal issues with elephant protection. The person who loses his elephant [due to cruelty or adopting illegal methods] often challenges us in court,” he says.
Smoothies and giant laddus
At Wildlife SOS | Photo Credit: Richard Kujur
The elephant keepers
Inside the 36-acre campus, the rescued animals — once controlled by tools of pain and fear — now have the freedom to be themselves. “We spend time understanding their pain, feed and pet them, talk to them,” says Babulal, 48, ECCC’s oldest mahout. He supervises a team of 32 in-house mahouts who are trained to be sensitive.
It is a humongous task to keep the animals alive and thriving after they suffer trauma. “We help them to unlearn their past. All elephants are silent when they first come in. Within a few months of rehab, they regain the mental stimulation to form small units; we hear them trumpet and talk to each other,” Babulal says.
It takes a village
Every elephant here gets a chance to live normally again, until the end of their days. Take the case of Suzy, their oldest resident, who is blind. At 70, she is referred to as the grandmother. When she was rescued from a circus in Tirupati, her molars were severely damaged. Today, she enjoys her special vegetable shakes in peace.
Published - August 09, 2024 12:45 pm IST
