Inside the Australian zoo saving baby elephants from a killer virus
Three years after a devastating elephant death at a Victorian zoo, a new vaccine might stop it happening again.
In an Australian zoo, baby elephants are being safeguarded from a deadly virus known as elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). The virus, which has no cure, primarily impacts young Asian elephants. In 2013, zookeeper Lucy Truelson witnessed the birth of a nine-year-old Asian elephant named Man Jai to his mother Kulab. Truelson also assisted during a tusk-removal surgery for Man Jai in 2021.
Truelson expressed her devastation when Man Jai succumbed to EEHV, a disease that has claimed over 90 young elephants in zoos globally in the past 25 years. Despite the loss, Truelson remains hopeful that a new vaccine trial underway can prevent similar tragic outcomes for other young elephants at Werribee Open Range Zoo and worldwide.
Dr. Tabitha Hoornweg, a veterinary scientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, is spearheading the effort to develop and test a vaccine. The vaccine, which trains the elephant's immune system to recognize the virus, has been tested on six older elephants in Dutch zoos with no adverse effects. Currently, 11 young elephants from Europe, including three from Werribee Zoo, are participating in the vaccine trial.
To administer the vaccine, zookeepers have trained the elephants to cooperate by inserting a large syringe filled with saline into one of their trunk nostrils, a process that requires patience and positive reinforcement. The goal is to create a trusting relationship between the elephants and the keepers.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
