မြန်မာ့သစ်လုပ်ငန်း၊ ဆင်ထိန်းသိမ်းစောင့်ရှောက်ရေး အခြေပြုခရီးသွားလုပ်ငန်း (ECBT) ဆင်စခန်းများ

2024-01-02T07:32:29+00:00

Elephant Surgery

2016-02-17T05:59:27+00:00

Surgical treatment of a cervico-vaginalprolapse in anelephant inMyanmar

Zaw Min Oo¹, Myo Nay Zar¹, Aung Thura Soe¹, HtooHtooAung¹, Kyaw Soe¹, Kyaw Nyein¹, Win Htut¹, Myo Shwe¹, Aung Myint Tun¹, Than Soe¹, Than Naing Oo¹, Than Zaw Win¹, Moe Win Tun¹, Ko Moe¹, Thi Han Chit¹

Myo Than², Wan Tun², Ba Kyaw Than²

Moe Myint³, Thiha³, Moe Zaw Aung³, Than Min Swe³

¹ Elephant veterinarian, MTE Department of Timber Extraction, MOECAF

² Retired elephant veterinarian, MTE Department of Timber Extraction, MOECAF

³Administration, MTE Department of Timber Extraction, MOECAF

Corresponding author’semail: zawminoomte@gmail.com

Introduction

Presently there are 2940 elephants in the Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE) in Myanmar. All of these elephants are owned by thegovernment and distributed around the country. Some elephants are utilized in logging and for carrying baggage from one camp to another during the rainyseason. In addition, some captive elephants in the country are privately owned and used in logging by private timber companies.

According to MTE records, the youngest femaleto give birthwas8 years old, and the oldest elephant gave birth at 46 years old. Some femaleshave givenbirth to more than six calves in their lifetime. On rare occasions females have suffered cervico-vaginal prolapsed problems.

During the last decade, MTE lost three female elephants due to a prolapsed vagina. As MTE field veterinarians, we tried to save those elephants but gave up due to a lack of experiences and limited techniques and knowledge of surgery in those cases.

The female elephant (Ma-3945) Myint Ngae, 47 years old, suffered a prolapsed starting ten years ago. At the beginning, the prolapse in the perineal regioncaused a bulge that was 4 inches in diameter, but it got larger year by year. Then the bulge in the perineal region increased to about 22 inches in diameter. This prolapsed was determined due to cervico vaginal prolapsed because we found out bladder and urine in the field of Ultrasound.

Before surgery, the condition of the elephant was fit, fair, and free from any injuries on the body according to MTE method. This elephant could urinate althoughit was sometimes difficult for her. However the defecation was normal. Antibiotics and tetanus toxoid (ATT) were given preventatively (Table 1). Before surgery the elephant was eating, sleeping, and moving well.

Surgery process

Cleaning and disinfection process

This is an important process for surgery. Before starting, we first cleaned all dirty matters with fresh water and shaved the surgery site. We used disinfectants soap and water and 2% tincture of iodine.

Care and Management of Elephant and its Operational Guidelines

2013-09-13T09:25:45+00:00

In Myanmar, the elephants are the main power in timber extraction from the natural forests which are too jangled and mountainous, while Buffalo power can be used only on flat terrain for short hauling distances and smaller trees.

Elephant Extraction

2013-09-13T09:17:54+00:00

The following documents and maps related to each compartment are provided by the Forest Department (FD) when granting official permission to carryout harvesting operations official.