Two-month-old elephant calf dies of suspected herpes at Tamil Nadu's Sirumugai forest range

COIMBATORE: A two-month old male elephant calf died of suspected herpes virus infection at Odanthurai in Sirumugai forest range.

Officials will send the organ samples of the calf to the expert in Kerala and as well as Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to confirm the cause of death. Though some elephants in Kerala died of herpes, this could probably the first case in Coimbatore, if the test results are positive.

The animal was found dead on Saturday at 5:15 pm by forest department staff during a a patrol. The postmortem was carried out on Sunday in the presence of DFO TK Ashok Kumar.

A forest official said, "The animal died 36 to 48 hours ago and his stomach is empty. We suspect the animal might have died due to herpes virus infection since the virus attacks mainly young elephants that have less immunity. Moreover, we observed bleeding in the lungs and heart, and pink-coloured mucus discharge from the trunk. We believe the virus could have spread from his mother during weaning."

"We have decided to send the samples of heart, lung and kidney, etc, to Dr Arun Zachariah who is a senior forest veterinary officer in Kerala and as well the institute in UP," the official added. After the postmortem, the animal was buried deep to prevent infection from spreading to other animals. According to sourcs, 13 elephants died in the seven forest ranges in Coimbatore forest division this year.