The nails of an elephant being trimmed at the health check-up camp held by Airavat at Amguri, Tuli in Nagaland. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, Oct. 13: Airavat, an NGO, is looking for a place in the Northeast where aged and infirm domestic elephants can live out the rest of their lives with dignity, instead of suffering from neglect, hunger and diseases.

This old-age home for elephants will be on the lines of those in Thailand and a few other places.

Rinku Borgohain, a member of the newly formed NGO, said the one here would not only take in old elephants but also those which were crippled, blind and otherwise unable to work.

Borgohain has done stints in two such sanctuaries in Thailand — the Elephant Nature Park, Chiangmai, and Boonlots Elephant Sanctuary.

“Our concept will be slightly different from those in Thailand. Visitors will not be allowed to touch or ride them or put them on show like elephants painting or doing other tricks. They will be here only to be touched and treated by vets and can be a part of eco-tourism but will have no entertainment value,” he said.

Borgohain said 150 elephants had been taken to the US from Asia or Africa.

Five had been operated upon for cataract, something that had never been done in India despite a huge elephant population.

“Airavat would like to do such surgeries and more for our elephants,” he said.

The US has two homes for elephants — one run by PAWS at Sierra Nevada foothills in California and the other in Tennessee.

There is also one in France named Elephant Haven and the other in Brazil, called Global Sanctuaries.

Airavat, comprising four veterinary doctors and others, held its first health treatment camp for elephants at Amguri, Tuli, in Nagaland on Saturday, in which 26 animals were treated for various diseases and even had bullets extracted from their bodies.

Arindam Pachoni, a member of Airavat who also spent six months at Phetchaburi in Thailand working with Wildlife Friends Foundation, said the captive elephants pressed into service in the tourism and logging industry often suffered from various diseases and other problems because of the ignorance of the mahouts.

“The 26 domestic elephants at Amguri, aged between six to 75 years, were treated for fractures and bullet wounds and dewormed. Three bullets were extracted from an elephant named Ganesh, which had a single tusk. A couple of elephants here were also identified for retirement,” Pachoni said.

The camp was held in collaboration with Sivasagar District Elephant Owners’ Association and Tuli Contractors Union and was supported by Dr Ann Ichikawa from Tustin, California.

The most common diseases that an elephant suffers from are tuberculosis, which may pass from an infected mahout to elephant and vice versa, rabies, septicaemia, tetanus (because of rusted chains), and protozoan infestation.

“The nails of the elephants were also trimmed and the mahouts taught about hygiene and grooming,” he added.

The organisation also has plans to open a hospital exclusively to treat elephants and along with it a mobile vet van that can go right up to an elephant and treat it where it is injured or suffering from any disease.