Seven-year-old elephant ‘Gauri’, which was ailing from herpes virus infection died at Nandankanan Zoological Park on Friday night.
With this, four elephants have died in the zoo in the past one month much to the chagrin of wildlife lovers and environmentalists. With the death of Gauri, there are only four more female elephants left at the zoo. The death of the jumbos has rattled the zoo authorities as it was the second death of an elephant in the last 48 hours.
Earlier on September 15, ‘Chandan’, the only male elephant, had died; and on August 25, female elephant ‘Julie’ had died. ‘Kamala’ died on Thursday due to suspected herpes virus infection. While the suspected virus continued to claim lives of elephants, another elephant was put in isolation on Saturday. The baby elephant ‘Mama’ was shifted to the isolation ward for intensive treatment, said Nandankanan Director-in-Charge Shashi Paul. A high-level meeting was convened to tackle the spread of infection.
