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Today we are back with heartbreaking news about a severely injured elephant begging for life near a main road. It is reported that this poor elephant who was in a critical situation has been staying for few days near a main road, as if she was seeking the assistance of human to save the life. One resident of the locality informed the wildlife conservation center regarding the distressed elephant. As soon they got the news a team consisting a veterinary surgeon and helpers rushed to the spot to save the elephant. When the wildlife officers visited the spot the elephant was seen limping with great difficulty. They sedated the elephant and hurriedly started the treatments. The elephant appears to be fragile and weakened with pain. She was critically injured with gun fire. It is not clear that whether she has been shot by a poacher or injured with a trap gun. There was a deep puncture wound on her right hind leg. There are several injuries in other parts of the body too. The situation has been worsened as the injured areas were secondarily infected. The deep wound has been festered badly. Her right hind leg is swollen due to the accumulated pus. Here you can see the severity of the wound in hind leg. The team deeply moved with the condition of the elephant and determined to take every possible action to heal the poor elephant. They had to open the deep septic wound to remove the decaying tissues. As they are highly concern about minimizing the pain to the elephant, elephant’s eye was covered with a black cloth to avoid the shock to the elephant associate with the treatment process. They had to push the elephant slightly to align the elephant in to a position which ease the inspection and cleaning of the wound. Poor elephant has excreted fecus and urine incontinently with intense pain and fear. The deep punctured wound was surgically opened to facilitate proper drainage of exudate and removal of decaying tissue. The wound has been badly infected. It was infested with maggots too which cause to decay the tissue. The necrotic tissues were removed by hand. Poor elephant has been suffered a lot in the forest without being noticed by anyone. Bullet particles were also removed. The wounds were washed with water using a horse. Whole body was showered with water to minimize the heat stress. Fecal matters were also washed away. After removing the decaying tissues and washing the wound, hydrogen peroxide solution was applied on the wound. The veterinary surgeon work with dedication and great sympathy about the elephant. Now they are preparing to give saline to the elephant. Prior to the saline treatment ear area was cleaned thoroughly. Saline is given intravenously. Blood sample was also drawn to be analyze in the laboratory. Then the wound was flushed again with saline solution with a help of a syringe. The wound was dressed with povidone iodine ointment. Antibiotics were given intramuscularly. They had to give several doses according to the estimated body weight. Anti- inflammatory drug and pain killers were also adminsred. The wound was externally smeared with anti-septic and fly repellent ointment. Here you can see the wounded areas are infested with maggots. The belly area also badly infested with maggots. Maggots were removed and antiseptic agents were applied in the belly area too. But we didn't include that clip as it may be hard to watch for viewers. Elephant was showered intermittently to avoid the heat 12 bottles of saline were given to the elephant to regain its lost energy. Some antibiotic were administered subcutaneously. Revival drug was given intravenously as the initial treatments were finished. Treatment lasted for hours. After giving the antidotes, the team tried to make the elephant stand. But as the elephant was severely weakened with pain, he was unable to stand. As the elephant is in critical condition, they are planning to translocate him to the nearest elephant transit home, Udawalawa. With limited facilities they are preparing the elephant to be transported. The villagers brought a backhoe to cut the ground to facilitate the transport vehicle to park in a position that ease the elephant to be loaded. With the use of ropes they loaded the elephant in to a large truck. The operation started at the day time and ended in the darkness. They took every possible acrion to save the life of elephant. The elephant will be kept and look after in the emergency care treatment unit in the Udawalawa elelphant transit home . The team will daily monitor and treat the elelphant until it gains a complete recovery..
