Karnataka: Elephant shifted to enclosure, new harness used to bring him to his feet

Bengaluru: Sidda, the elephant which was injured and immobile at Avverahalli, Manchanabele in Magadi Taluk, was successfully shifted to its new enclosure on Thursday. The new enclosure was built by the Madras Engineering Group within 30 hours ever since they began work on the ‘gantry tower’ on Monday.

Sidda was lifted by a crane and placed in its new enclosure. The pachyderm, which is partially blind in its right eye and has a condylar fracture in its long bone, is now safely hoisted. The animal is now in a vertical position and experts say hopefully its feeding pattern will improve.

Sidda is now in an upright position. The animal is hoisted with the help of a special harness. The animal is suspended with the harness to help it use its injured right leg to stand.

Sidda is being fed jaggery, ragi balls, sugarcane and grass to help it recover. Vets are regularly spraying its wounds with water mixed with turmeric powder and are cleaning the pachyderm’s wounds.

As the animal is in an upright position, its fecal matter and urine can also be cleaned and removed from the area as it was tougher when the animal was lying on the ground. Since Sidda is now upright, experts opine that the animal may after all recover from its injuries.

 Further plans for Sidda are not clear and the Wildlife PCCF (Karnataka) may take a decision in the near future to move the elephant to a camp. The chosen spot may most probably the Sakrebailu Elephant Camp.