|  Captive
elephants besieged with health problems
 Sonepur
is a small non-descript town in Saran district of Bihar.
Despite its unremarkable environs, two of its features
are astonishingly large. The first is its railway platform,
probably the second largest in the world with a length
of 2,415 ft, second only to the Storvik railway station
in Sweden that has a platform length of 2,470 ft. Its'
other large feature being the cattle fair, second in
volume to the Pushkar Mela, but with the distinction
of hosting the world's largest elephant fair.
Elephants have a legendary connection
with Sonepur. The story goes that the sage Agastya cursed
Indradyumna and turned him into an elephant. He lived
on the banks of the Ganges at Sonepur.
 Another
sage cursed a Gandharva chief named Huhu when he disturbed
his meditations and turned him into a crocodile and
lived in this river. One day, when the elephant came
to bathe in the river, the crocodile caught him by his
leg. The elephant could not shake off the crocodile
and after a long tussle, prayed to Lord Vishnu. His
prayer was answered and Vishnu cut the crocodile's head
with his chakra (disc). The touch of the chakra released
Huhu from the curse and he went to heaven. Vishnu also
released Indradyumna from his curse by touching his
forehead and took him to his abode, Vaikuntha.
 Legend
apart, the elephant fair at Sonepur is the pride of
the mela. The elephant fair begins in a mango orchard
on the banks of the Ganges a few days before the official
opening of the mela on Kartik Purnima, which fell on
November 30 this year. The Sonepur Mela also attracts
cattle of every kind, goat and sheep, horses, and even
dogs and birds. A regular exhibition ground springs
up in the town, which is open for a whole month. The
cattle, elephants and other animals leave after four
or five days of hectic trading. But every visitor makes
sure that the mango orchards are part of their itinerary
so that they can gawk at the pachyderms lined up there.
Captive elephants have a lot of health
problems. Malnutrition diseases like edema and blindness,
wounds caused by mahouts, rope wounds, fissures on the
footpads and bedsores are the most common. And most
of the owners do not have access to proper medical care.
For the first time in the history of the mela, the Wildlife
Trust of India in association with the International
Fund for Animal welfare (IFAW) held a health check-up
camp for these elephants. Dr NVK Ashraf, WTI veterinarian
says the state of health of the elephants is indicative
of the owner's interest in the animal. "Those who
buy these animals purely for commercial purposes, singularly
lack interest in their well-being. But those who own
them as an indication of their status, look after them
much better," he says. Incidentally, on examination
by Dr Asharf, it was found that almost 80 per cent of
the elephants at Sonepur had one or more of these ailments;
only 20 per cent did not have any health problems.
 "Most
of these health problems are simple, curable problems
and a little bit of care can easily prevent them,"
he adds. But the elephant-keepers (mahouts) are mostly
illiterate and go by traditional cures instead of using
the services of a vet. Elephant -owner Ram Lakhan Verma,
also a former Uttar Pradesh minister, was more than
happy to get his three elephants checked up by the vet.
"I live in a small village, (Tahapur, in Ambedkar
Nagar district) and we do not have any vets there. And
the vets in the bigger towns have no experience in handling
elephants and are afraid to do so," he says. Except
for a few bedsores, Sher Bahadur, his30-year-old, 10
ft tall tusker, was healthy. "I have kept these
elephants as my pets. Just as in the cities people keep
dogs as symbol of their status, I keep elephants,"
he says, proudly.
WTI's team at Sonepur not only examined
all the elephants for health problems, but also gave
away deworming medication to all elephants. Initially,
the team faced a lot of resistance from the owners.
"The owners are mostly here to sell their elephants
and do not want to openly admit that their elephant
is ill," explains Mr Santosh Kumar Singh, owner
of the mango orchard, where the elephant mela is held.
But after the initial resistance, many owners openly
sought WTI's help to treat their elephants. Like Yakub
Ali, a resident of ITO, Delhi, whose elephant had previously
been treated by WTI in Delhi. One of his elephants,
Lakshmi, had got hurt in the foot while being loaded
on the truck to Sonepur. It also had other problems
like edema and a few sores. And WTI's doctor proved
to be a blessing in disguise for him. Ali got the elephant
treated and in the next two days managed to sell the
elephant, which had by then begun to heal.
 Motigaj,
a 40-year-old tusker, was also hurt while being transported
to Sonepur. In fact, his left tusk broke as a result
of getting caught on the sides of the truck. The pulp
cavity was infected and the animal was in considerable
pain. WTI handed over medicines for its treatment to
the mahout as the elephant was in musth.
Another elephant, 20-year-old female called
Gulabi, had wounds all over her body, and was possibly
pregnant. Owner Ranjit Jaiswal says he bought the elephant
is this condition from an Assamese trader. A resident
of Sitamarhi district, Bihar, he has no access to vet
services, except at Patna. "Vets here have not
been able to tell me whether she is pregnant,"
he says. Jaiswal and his mahout were advised by Dr Ashraf
on the symptoms to look out for to diagnose the pregnancy
at home and helped them treat some of the sores.
Some simple problems like edema in the
neck region and fissures in the footpad were notice
in a majority of the elephants. Most owners and mahout
s were not aware that a healthy, high protein diet could
get rid of the edema and a foot wash with potassium
per manganate could soothe the fissures in the footpad.
WTI now plans to hold an annual health
camp for elephants at the Sonepur Mela so that owners
and mahouts can access better care for their animals.
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