As per the direction of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCC), the veterinary department had injected antibiotic through tranquillising process to provide some relief to the elephant. As the elephant is in advanced stages of pregnancy, experts were called in to provide proper treatment to the wound on upper portion of its right leg.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjay Kumar Swain said, the department learnt about the wounded elephant a few days back and staff had been keeping a watch on its movement.The elephant is part of a nine-member herd, including two tuskers, of STR which were seen moving inside Budhikhamari and Ahari forest areas under Krushnachandrapur forest division for the last couple of weeks.
A tusker from the herd died after coming in contact with a 11 KV wire at Jharjamda village under Betnoti forest range on June 8. The live wire was hanging barely at a height of eight feet from the ground. Another wild tusker with six other female elephants of the herd were roaming inside the forest, the DFO added. The female elephant could have sustained injuries either from a branch of a tree or attacked by a tusker for refusing to mate.
The injury was so severe that the wound turned septic and pus was oozing from it, the DFO said.
The treating team included a professor and his assistant from OUAT, two veterinary doctors from STR. More treatment would be needed but due to her advanced pregnancy, other members of the herd are keeping a watch on her.