Liver failure causes Elephant's death on shoot

A day after a female Elephant collapsed and died in Film city, Goregaon, veterinarians who performed a post-mortem on Saturday revealed that liver failure was the primary cause. The pachyderm named Rupa was owned by Sabhashankar Pandey and was allegedly brought to Film city for a shoot on Friday. The post mortem of Rupa who is estimated to be around 38 to 40 years old was conducted by Veterinary Officer, SGNP, Dr Shailesh Pethe and a pathologist from Bombay Veterinary College. According to them, prima facie cause of death seemed to be Hepatic calculi (stones) in the gall bladder and liver leading to hepatic failure and toxemia.

"We found a stone almost one and half times bigger than a tennis ball in thegall bladder and also several stones around the size of a one rupee coin in the liver. We have taken tissue samples for further analysis and the final report will be available in a few days," said Pethe who shared that it took them four hours to conduct the post mortem.

It turned out to be a mammoth task for officials as the jumbo was taken to Vasai where its post mortem and cremation could be carried out. Meanwhile Range Forest Officer SS Kank from Mumbai range said that they will begin investigation from Sunday. "We will take the statements of not only the owner but also the company which had hired the animal for a shoot. Further action will also depend on the final post mortem report," he said adding that Pandey had transport permit for getting Rupa from Dahisar to Goregaon and back with him.

However activists suspect foul play. "Pandey also has another Elephant and it should be seized by the Forest department. It has been found that he has not been taking good care of these jumbos," said Pawan Sharma of RAWW adding that there has to be a complete ban imposed on the use of elephants for any kind of performance.