KARACHI: Elephant Sonia housed at the Safari Park suffered from multiple chronic illnesses, affecting almost all vital organs, that ultimately killed her, the postmortem report has shown, indicating prolonged neglect in her care and failure in timely diagnosis.

The many illnesses the 19-year-old elephant suffered from included a severe blood stream bacterial infection, tuberculosis and respiratory failure.

Sonia’s death in the last month – the second in less than two years in four captive elephants under the care of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) –left citizens in shock and grief.

The elephant was declared ‘physically fit’ both by Safari officials, the local vet as well as Four Paws —the international team of experts assisting the KMC in animal welfare.

Findings of final report reflect prolonged neglect in her care, failure in timely diagnosis

The report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, is prepared by Dr Ghulam Mustafa representing the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore. He carried out the postmortem with the help of zoo vet and deputy director Dr Amir Rizvi and Edhi volunteers.

Some of Sonia’s samples were tested at Sindh Institute of Animal Health, and the Agha Khan University Hospital.

The report refers to Sonia’s medical history as narrated by Dr Rizvi, according to which, the animal was suffering from blood parasitic infestation and was under treatment for blood parasites.

“Her body condition was not good and was getting weak day by day. Despite all parasitic treatments the animal did not show improvement and died on 08-12-2024,” the report quotes Dr Rizvi as saying.

According to its findings, Sonia suffered from severe systematic septicemia — a serious bloodstream infection that can lead to sepsis and organ failure — along with other serious ailments.

“The mechanism of death in this animal is likely a combination of severe systemic septicemia, respiratory failure (due to chronic pneumonia, liquefactive necrosis (a type of tissue death that results in a liquid viscous mass), and fibrosis in the lungs, gastrointestinal failure (due to ulcerative enterocolitis), cardiovascular collapse (due to shock), and multiorgan dysfunction,” the report says.

It also points out that the presence of hemolytic anemia (a blood disorder that makes red blood cells break down or die faster than normal), cachexia (a complex syndrome associated with an underlying illness causing muscle loss that is not entirely reversed with nutritional supplementation), and tuberculosis further exacerbates the animal’s overall condition, leading to irreversible organ damage and ultimately death.

The elephant’s pus samples taken from the lungs revealed presence of harmful organisms – Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Salmonella.

“The necropsy report indicates severe systemic septicemia associated with chronic pyogranulomatous pneumonia, ulcerative enterocolitis, cachexia, and multiorgan involvement.

“Additionally, acid-fast bacilli were detected in the lung pus sample, and GeneXpert testing confirmed the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Histopathological examination showed liquefactive necrosis and fibrosis in the lungs. The spleen confirmed the presence of hemolytic anemia in the animal,” the report says.

Earlier, Four Paws in a social media post had stated that the microbiological results from Sonia’s autopsy revealed “the presence of various bacteria” and that the source of the bacteria “was an advanced abscess on Sonia’s foot which was just recently discovered and treated during our stay for elephant Madhubala’s relocation,” it said.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025