​A finger on every pulse

NEW DELHI: Injections never won a doctor any friends, and zoo veterinarian, Dr N Panneer Selvam, realized this under a shower of stones and (presumably ) abuse from the chimp enclosure. After the first few days of treatment, the ailing chimp had learnt to associate the vet with painful injections. “Chimpanzees are very smart. They identify individuals and their behaviour,” he says.
While animals nurse rude memories of hospital staff, the latter are the zoo’s central nervous system. They take all decisions regarding the well-being of animals, from diet charts to vaccination , breeding programmes and treatment . They also hand-rear abandoned or orphaned newborns like Tejas, a leopard cub caught in a UP village.
The hospital brainstorms round the clock to work around different animals’ moods. For instance, to deal with the chimpanzee, the doctors administer it medicines in a mango drink or vanilla i c e c re a m . “However, we need to be careful because if the animal sees us lacing the drink it refuses to drink it.”
Such subterfuge is essential because injecting and tranquilizing animals is not advisable. Tranquilization, especially, increases the chances of an animal collapsing. Sometimes, the brainstorming extends to other zoo hospitals. Last week, the zoo consulted Chhatbir Zoo near Chandigarh on a deer’s odd behaviour. “Blood samples are also sent for advanced testing if our lab is unable to detect the problem,” said zoo curator Riaz A Khan.