72-year-old elephant undergoes treatment

Coimbatore: The forest department has begun treatment for a 72-year-old female elephant named 'Vijayalakshmi' at the

Kozhikamuthi

elephant camp near Topslip in

Anaimalai Tiger Reserve

(

ATR

). The elephant has been suffering from digestive ailments for over 10 days and eye defects.Vijayalakshmi, the second oldest elephant in the camp, was captured from the Ulandy forest range on December 29, 1973. It was trained by mahouts at the camp. The elephant was used for safaris before it retired.“The elephant did not intake food since April 7. It is suffering from age-related ailments,” deputy field director of ATR MG Ganesan said. Forest veterinary officer A Sukumar, retired veterinary officer NS Manoharan, professor from Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal, S Dharmaceelan, and regional joint director of the department of animal husbandry R Perumalsamy are treating the animal.Vijayalakshmi is consuming only 15 to 20 litres of water a day. Adult elephants consume 150 litres of water per day. Glucose, anti-biotics and vitamins are being administered to the elephant since Saturday. At present, Kozhikamuthi camp houses 27 elephants. 75-year-old female elephant Sivakami is the oldest elephant in the camp.