2012

The Nepal Elephant Tuberculosis Control and Management Action Plan

The Nepal Elephant Tuberculosis Control and Management Action Plan was approved by the Ministry of Forestry of Nepal as part of Nepal’s Elephant Action Plan. The Plan includes a history of TB in elephants in Nepal and guidelines for surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment. The goals of the Plan are to enhance the health of government patrol elephants (critical to conservation) and to mitigate TB transmission to the wild by controlling TB at the captive-wild interface.  The Plan is now available globally as a resource to assist other Asian elephant range countries that may be facing problems with TB in captive elephants.  Elephant Care International has been assisting with elephant TB work in Nepal since 2006 with funding from USFWS Asian Elephant Conservation Fund grants (3), the Alexander Abraham Foundation, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, the Mazuri Fund, the Walter J. Ernst Memorial Fund, the Humane Society of the United States, the Columbus zoo, the Oklahoma City Zoo, Twycross Zoo, Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, AAZK (American Association of Zookeepers, Buttonwood Park Zoo New Bedford, MA), Tulsa Zoo, and other zoos and private donors.

This document is available as a PDF. Caution: image intensive, 41 pages long, and 10 MB in size.
Click here to access the document.

New Parasite Images  (this link takes you to the gallery)
Courtesy of and Copyright by Dr. Partha S. Banerjee
Amiroides sp.
Cobboldia elephantis maggots
Equinerbia sp
Murshidia sp

CUPA and ANCF Offer Free Downloads of Elephant Welfare Publications
CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action) and ANCF (Asian Nature Conservation Foundation) are offering free downloads of a series of elephant welfare publications, includingWelfare and Management of Elephants in Captivity
Captive Elephants in Circuses
Wandering Elephants of Punjab
Captive Elephants of Karnataka
Database for captive Elephants and their Mahouts in Karnataka
Model for Elephant keeping and Keeper Welfare
Spatial distribution of Captive Elephant locations in southern India
Captive Elephants in Zoos
Captive Elephants of Tamil Nadu
Captive Elephants of Gujarat

Visit their website at
http://crystalshelter.weebly.com/captive-elephant-reports.html

2011
 

Sponsoring Compounding Pharmacy

Grove Compounding Pharmacy

3050 S. National
Springfield, MO 65804
Contact: Dan Loper, R.Ph, DVM
Tel: 417-881-8822
Fax: 417-888-0667
Email: dloper@grovepharmacy.com

Website: www.GrovePharmacy.com
 

Elephant Tuberculosis References (by date)

An Open Letter on Elephant Tuberculosis (TB) Issues
To veterinarians, elephant managers, zoo directors,
and elephant range country professionals

Current and Future Technologies to Manage TB in Elephants
-a PDF presentation by S. Mikota as invited speaker at University of Georgia,
College of Veterinary Medicine, January 2011

2010

ECI establishes an annual $1,000 grant for post-graduate elephant research to the
Madras Veterinary School, Department of Wildlife Science, Chennai, India
The first award has been made to Dr. B. Nishanth for
“Assessment of Fecal Cortisol in Captive and Free-ranging Elephants of Tamilnadu State.” 
His Co-Investigators or Collaborators include Dr.S.R.Srinivasan, Ph.D,
Dr.M.G.Jayathangaraj, Ph.D, and Dr.R.Sridhar, Ph.D. 

ECI awarded $43,123 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Asian Elephant Conservation Fund grant
for Implementation of the Nepal Elephant TB Control Plan
as a Model for Asian Elephant Range Countries

Nepal Project Update
Details here

ECI donates Chembio Elephant TB STAT-PAKs^® to Sri Lankan Researcher
ECI donated 100 ElephantTB STAT-PAK® Assays to a student researcher (Sara Baez Seara) for part of a Zoological Society of London Master's program, where she is working in conjunction with
Dr. Vijitha Perera with the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation

ECI donates Chembio Elephant TB STAT-PAKs^® to Tanzanian Researcher
ECI donated 20 ElephantTB STAT-PAK® Assays to the
Tanzanian national parks as part of a pilot study
to screen wild African elephants for TB

New SSP Protocols

- ECI and Michigan State University awarded a $4,750 Mazuri Fund Grant
The study will examine "Serum vitamin D and Calcium Metabolism in Asian elephants from Nepal with and without Tuberculosis"

House/ECI office building has begun
 - a personal note
Hank Hammatt and Dr. Susan Mikota have begun construction of their new home/office, finally replacing the small cottage in Waveland, MS destroyed by Hurricane Katrina (http://www.elephantcare.org/katrina.htm).  Our new house will be a super-insulated passive solar design with high thermal mass, direct gain, a solar sun room for heat transfer to the house, and with light straw clay interior walls.  Hank has been accumulating materials for three years, with most purchases made from Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores.  It is rewarding to think that the money we have spent at Habitat for construction materials (doors, windows, kitchen cabinets, furniture, and even exercise equipment), will pay for much of a new Habitat House.  So, in a way, we are almost building two houses!  And saving money....  Hank is doing most of the actual construction, assisted at times by his brother Bruce and the occasional paid worker.
 

Dr. Susan Mikota appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor at Michigan State University
Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation

Rabies Camp in Nepal
After Dr. Mikota had an exposure to a rabid dog, our team in Nepal organized a free rabies clinic for local people to have their cats and dogs vaccinated for rabies.  Major assistance was provided by IAAS and the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center. More than 200 cats and dogs were vaccinated in two days.
 

SPCAI donates drugs for Nepal elephants, street dogs, and zoo animals.

The drugs were distributed to the following three organizations:

1.      The National Trust for Nature Conservation, Biodiversity Conservation Center (NTNC/BCC; www.ntnc.org.np). This is situated at Chitwan district of Southern Nepal. The Nepal Elephant HealthCare and Tuberculosis Surveillance Program Office is situated at BCC. NTNC will share these drugs with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to use with the captive elephants that the Department maintains for conservation work such as patrolling the national parks, anti-poaching, and rhino census work. Following quantities of drugs were received at NTNC/BCC:

a.     Ciprofloxacin: 1,43,000tablets

b.      Ampicillin: 93,000 tablets

c.      Albendazole: 47,000 tablets

1.      Central Zoo (managed by NTNC; http://www.ntnc.org.np/project/central-zoo): This site is located in Kathmandu. The Zoo is a home to large numbers of fishes, reptiles, birds and mammals. Following quantities of drugs were distributed to the Central Zoo:

a.     Ciprofloxacin: 2000 tablets

b.      Ampicillin: 2000 tablets

c.      Albendazole: 2000 tablets

2.      Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center (KAT; http://www.katcentre.org.np/). This is situated in the northern part of Kathmandu valley and is working on the sterilization and humane management of the street dogs. Following quantities of the drugs were distributed in KAT Center:

a.      Ciprofloxacin:5000 tablets

b.      Ampicillin: 5000 tablets

c.      Albendazole: 1000 tablets