Rescued elephants, bears bask in comfort

As elephants are more vulnerable to "arthritis" in harsh cold climate, the rescued elephants and sloths from illegal trafficking are being served with special diet, helps to keep them warm.

According to Wildlife SoS, the diet of elephants has been modified to include jiggery, peanuts, sesame oil and a digestive mixture using Indian spices.

With the cold setting in across Northern India, animal lives have started facing the brunt of the sudden dip in temperatures. Wildlife SOS measures to ensure that the rescued elephants and bears under their lifetime care is sheltered through the winter months.

According to Dr. Ilayaraja, Deputy Director of Veterinary Services at Wildlife SOS, "The bears spend most of their day resting in freshly dug mud pits or hammocks to soak up the warm winter sun. "To ensure that they are snug during the night, individual bear dens have been designated heaters and strawbedding. The sloth bears also enjoy a special winter diet comprising hot porridge with additional quantity of milk along with jaggery (molasses) and puffed rice balls."

This may be noted that, these animals are rescued from illegal captivity, trafficking mafia, exploited for street begging and circuses where they were abused and subjected to extreme cruelty and decades of suffering, each of these elephants has tragic pasts, which in turn has taken a physical and psychological toll on them.

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder & CEO of Wildlife SOS, said, "It is important to keep our elephants especially the geriatric ones snug and comfortable during winters, as they are more vulnerable to change in weather making them susceptible to ailments such as pneumonia.

"The cold also aggravates their arthritis which is a common issue that the elephants have to deal with. Even the diet of the elephants has been modified to include jaggery, peanuts, sesame oil and a digestive mixture using Indian spices to help generate body heat," said Satyanarayan.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/state-editions/rescued-elephants--bears-bask-in-comfort.html