Treatment camp to save elephants

Chitwan. An elephant treatment camp has been started in Chitwan after the elephants started dying. Due to natural causes, six elephants have died in Chitwan National Park so far this fiscal year.

The treatment camp has been jointly started by Chitwan National Park and National Nature Conservation Fund Sauraha. Government and private elephants will be treated in the camp. The treatment camp was inaugurated at the Elephant Breeding Center, Khorsor on Monday.

The senior veterinarian of the park, Dr. Bijay Kumar Shrestha inaugurated the camp. Veterinarian Amir Sadaula informed that treatment of 11 mothers and 9 calves at the breeding center has been started with the inauguration of the camp. He informed that the elephants would be given worm medicine, toenails and blood tests.

The health of the elephants will be tested by visiting the posts of the park. As the rhino census is scheduled for next month, the health check of the elephants has been started before that. Physicians from the park and the National Nature Conservation Fund are participating in the trial. Currently, there are 56 elephants in the park. They are doing the same job even though they are posted in six Koshi Wildlife Sanctuaries.

There is an elephant breeding center in Khorsor of the park. The chicks born there are raised and sent to work after training. Elephants are used in park security. There are 56 government and about 60 private elephants in Chitwan.

Dr. Baburam Lamichhane, head of the National Nature Conservation Fund, Sauraha, said that the camp was organized to strengthen the health of the elephants used in the upcoming rhino census.