KARACHI: Critically ill zoo elephant Noor Jehan made a slight recovery on Saturday when she started eating food on her own while experts continued their efforts late in the evening to help her stand on her feet.

“Today, she has shown signs that have raised our hopes. She used her trunk for the first time in three days and chose to have sugar cane, carrots and melons, while throwing away apples and spinach offered to her,” Dr Shalla Hayat, part of the Four Paws’ team assisting the zoo staff in Noor Jehan’s treatment said.

The team, she shared, administered a lot of fluids and medicines to her through intravenous drips to help boost her energy levels, keep her hydrated and reduce pain.

“We also changed her position twice by using a crane equipped with a tailor-made harness. This was important to keep the blood flowing and prevent bedsores,” Dr Hayat explained.

The 17-year-old elephant has been lying on the ground in her enclosure for the past three days, making little movement, after she reportedly fell in her pond and remained trapped there for hours.

Four Paws team says elephant now using her trunk, eating on her own

Unfortunately, the incident happened at a time when Noor Jehan was experiencing initial signs of recovery from serious health complications, recently detected by Four Paws — an international team working for animal welfare — which described her as an intensive care patient, requiring quality attention and management.

Currently, the experts are supervising the whole treatment process at the zoo by giving advice to the local team at the site at each and every step needed to save Noor Jehan’s life.

“She is still fighting. However, this situation is still very critical and serious as lying for too long on the ground is life-threatening to elephants,” Dr Amir Khalil representing Four Paws’ told Dawn.

Everyone was working hard to improve Noor Jehan’s condition so that she could stand again on her own feet as soon as possible, he added.

Zoo director Kanwar Ayub expressed the hope that dedicated efforts being put in by the entire team wouldn’t go to waste. “We are keeping our fingers crossed. I have requested the experts who have earlier treated Noor Jehan to come to Karachi, if they can.”

It might be recalled Noor Jehan was diagnosed over a week back with a large hematoma in her abdomen, causing edema in the reproductive organs and blocking the passage of urine and stool.

The team had recommended medication and physical therapy for the seriously ill elephant. The zoo staff, however, reportedly demonstrated negligence, creating serious concerns over the survival and well-being of the ailing elephant among animal activists.

In August last year, the Four Paws’ team had performed major tusk surgeries on Noor Jehan and Madhubala, the other female elephant.

In 2021, the team submitted a report to the Sindh High Court, recommending a series of steps on elephants’ welfare, which was approached by a group of citizens worried over animal plight.

The team strongly suggested shifting the zoo elephants to Safari Park, also housing two female elephants, on grounds that the latter facility had reduced noise pollution and provided a better species-specific environment.

Both Noor Jehan and Madhubala, along with two other Safari elephants, were caught and separated from their mothers at a very young age in Tanzania in 2010 and brought to Karachi under a controversial agreement.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023