The elephant rehabilitation centre at Kappukadu, near Kottoor, bid adieu to one of its youngest residents, Sreekutty, early Monday.
The calf aged one year and seven months old breathed her last following high fever for the past two days. Veterinarians who oversaw her post-mortem examination suspected infection due to elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus (EEHV) to be the cause of the death. Massive internal bleeding was found during the post-mortem examination. Blood samples were sent to the State Institute of Animal Diseases (SIAD), Palode, for confirming the disease.
According to former Chief Veterinary Officer E.K. Easwaran, epidemiology studies would be done to understand the cause of the infection that usually affected elephants aged below 12 years. Antiviral drug, acyclovir, is administered among calves in the age group.
He said elephants were tested for the infection every three months. The elephants at the centre had tested negative for the virus during a survey undertaken by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, two months ago.
Birthday fete
Sreekutty’s first birthday was celebrated with much fanfare on November 8 last.
Since her rescue from the Ambanad estate in Kollam in 2019, where she was found next to her dead mother with injuries on legs, Sreekutty has been carefully nursed back to health.
