All six captive elephants at the Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in M.R. Palayam in the district have tested negative for COVID-19, forest officials said on Wednesday.
The female elephants were subjected to COVID-19 test, which was carried out last Friday by a veterinary team of the Forest Department. Swab samples were collected from each pachyderm. The tests were conducted due to the death of a lion because of COVID-19 at Vandalur Zoological Park near Chennai and a few other lions testing positive for the viral infection recently.
The veterinary team led by A. Sukumar, Forest Veterinary Officer, Coimbatore, collected rectal swab samples from each of the six elephants: Malachi, Indhu, Sandhya, Jayanthi, Gomathi and Jameela at the Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre where the jumbos were housed.
In addition to this, trunk wash samples were also collected from each animal.
The swab samples and trunk wash fluids of the six elephants were immediately sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute situated at Izatnagar in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh for COVID-19 diagnosis.
Test report
Forest officials said the Indian Veterinary Research Institute sent the COVID-19 examination report on Tuesday in which it was stated that all six elephants tested negative for COVID-19.
The centre, equipped with a host of facilities, functions inside a huge reserve forest area at M.R. Palayam adjoining Tiruchi- Chennai National Highway.
It became functional in early September 2019 when the first captive elephant Malachi was translocated from Madurai. Subsequently, other elephants were translocated from different places to the centre.
