Humid heat killed ostrich, says professor Dr S T Selvan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cause of death of the two-and-a-half-year-old  female ostrich at the zoo here on Thursday last was heat stroke. This was confirmed by Dr. S. T. Selvan, professor at the post-graduate research institute in animal sciences, Kattupakkam, Tamil Nadu. Ostriches  cannot tolerate high humidity as they feel like being in a pressure cooker, he said.  The results of the histopathology tests (changes in tissues caused by any diseases) conducted at the chief disease investigation office at Palode are being awaited. But the zoo’s senior veterinary surgeon Dr. Jacob Alexander sought the opinion of Dr. Selvan who  is attached to the ostrich breeding centre at Kattupakkam.  

Dr. Jacob Alexander told DC that it will take a few more days to receive the final test results. “The flock of ostriches, especially the male,  was showing distress for the last one month and the birds were not taking food properly.  So we had provided them antibiotics and ruled out any  bacterial infection,”  he said. The ostriches at the Kattupakkam centre are  also experiencing  heat stroke. The four ostriches in the zoo here were brought from the Kattupakkam farm  at a cost of '1 lakh each  more than two years ago.