Agencies-Gaza post
Danger virus kills endangered elephants
Herpes virus, within one month, killed three Asian elephants of an endangered species living in the Zurich Animal Park, leaving scientists unable to cope with this deadly disease.
Only five of eight Asian elephants remained within the 11 thousand square meters allocated to them at the zoo overlooking Switzerland’s largest city.
Mauro Müller (29), a permanent visitor to the zoo, told AFP that elephant deaths were “sad, especially since Zurich Park offers it a wide area.”
The two-year-old elephant Umesh died in late June due to his inability to resist the herpes virus, and his 8-year-old sister Umisha met the same fate a few days later, as did the 5-year-old elephant Rowani tunnel, which belonged to another group of different mothers, although no contact with Omesh and Omisha.
The cause of death of the three elephants was found to be the herpes virus, which causes internal bleeding and leads to failure of the body’s organ function.
The zoo’s supervisor Pascal Martí told AFP that the virus was “the main cause of elephant deaths between the ages of two and eight years” in the zoo.
He added that elephant mortality as a result of being infected with herpes virus also occurs in those living in the wild, but it is difficult to monitor these conditions “because animal surveillance is limited in nature”.
Herpes infects almost all elephants, whether they live in the wild or in zoos, but they become dangerous only when they spread rapidly in the body.
Scientists are still largely unaware of the causes of some elephants’ deadly outbreaks of the virus.
“We still don’t know why and when it happens,” Marty said sadly.
The five adult elephants that remain in the vicinity of the three pockets remained for a few hours. “We give her time to say goodbye to dead elephants,” the animal behavior specialist said, adding, “The group realizes that the elephants are no longer alive and are in contact with their hoses.”
Less than a week after registering deaths, the remaining five elephants continue their daily activities without paying attention to what has happened, swimming or hunting for food by inserting their hoses into holes in which islands and dry grass are distributed in a random manner via the Computer Program.
