Islamabad: One of the two female African elephants, Noor Jehan, at the Karachi Zoo is facing a precarious situation with her health deteriorating every day.
The 17-year old pachyderm can scarcely walk due to enlarged genitals and swelling in her left leg. However, a recent development has led to the hope that she might get some relief in the coming days.
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) which is responsible for the health and welfare of the zoo animals has written to the international animal rights group, Four Paws, to send a team of vets to the Karachi Zoo and extend medical assistance for the treatment of the animal.
Deputy Director of the Karachi Zoo, Dr Aamir Ismail, who along with a team of vets including Dr Isma Gheewala and Dr M.H. Pirzada is overseeing Noor Jehan’s treatment, confirmed that the Four Paws vets led by Dr Amir Khalil and Dr Marina Ivanova are expected soon to take things in their hands and relieve Noor Jehan of pain and agony.
We are in touch with Dr Amir Khalil and other experts of the Four Paws team and hold regular online meetings to share the day-to-day treatment, medicines and tests of the elephant, Dr Amir Ismail further said.
Four Paws team visited the Karachi Zoo in August last year too, for the ‘root canal’ surgery of Noor Jehan and her sister Madhubala. They had removed inflamed tissues from the rotten tusk of Noor Jehan and she was doing well since then. However, recently, a swelling developed in her leg and it worsened to the extent that it has become almost impossible for her to walk. She is merely dragging herself in the 1,000-sq yard enclosure.
Since they (Amir Khalil and other vets) are the ‘family physicians’ of Madhubala and Noor Jehan, it would be better if they could visit and treat Noor Jehan instead of giving online advice, he said.
Owais Awan Advocate who is assisting the Four Paws team’s visit and a member of their team in Pakistan also confirmed that the vets would arrive by the end of the current month or in the beginning of April and all necessary arrangements have been made so far.
Noor Jehan to be shifted to Safari Park
Last year, after the tusk treatment of Madhubala and Noor Jehan, the vets had also visited Safari Park of Karachi where two more elephants Sonia and Malika are being kept. Later, while recommending to the KMC the Four Paws team had suggested Noor Jehan and Madhubala should be shifted there.
“The current facility in the Karachi Zoo is inadequate for animal welfare as well as safety of visitors and without a sustainable solution, the animals would keep facing the recurring issues,” their letter had recommended.
This is why perhaps the Municipal Commissioner of KMC in his letter to Four Paws has given a nod to the shifting of the two animals to Safari Park and conveyed that the shifting process might be carried out during the visit and under the supervision of the Four Paws’ experts.
