New Post has been published on VESSWIC - Veterinary Society for Sumatran Wildlife Conservation > http://vesswic.com/agams-passing-and-diagnosis-report/
New Post has been published on http://vesswic.com/agams-passing-and-diagnosis-report/
Agam's Passing and Diagnosis Report
Agam died on the 26th October, we assisted the Elephant Conservation Centre Vet vet Dr. Rosa with the post mortem which confirmed the earlier diagnosis of metabolic bone diseases concluded from a tibia bone X ray. Many bones of the rib cage showed multiple fractures and were of rubber like easily bendable consistency, long bones from tibia and fibula were of the same consistency. The left humerus bone had ben fractured at least twice, (a fracture of the femur head and a fracture distal condyles), callus formations to repair these fractures had caused completely un-physiological and bend position of the femur head and distal condyles and shortened the femur and thus the entire right leg was shortened by about 15 cm. This had led to completely un-physiological position and weight bearing and had cause obvious damage in right and left hip and knee joints (bleedings into the joint capsule and hemorrhagic necrotizing degeneration of the joint cartilage). Most likely it was the pain caused by these joint damages that caused Agam finally to be unable or unwilling to stand up and maintain standing position.
After Agam was unable to stand anymore he was alternating between lying position and standing position supported by a sling. The lying position had caused pressure sores on temporal regions of the head, shoulder and hip areas. The slinging had caused severe pressure wounds and rope burns in the inguinal axillary and lower abdominal region, the inability to move also had caused muscle atrophy and ventral edema in the inguinal region and his entire life finally was suffering and pain.
Most likely Agam finally died due to sepsis from infected wounds or/and acute myocardial infarction or pulmonary embolism caused by thrombus due to the inability to move for a long time. But the real primary underlying cause for his condition was metabolic bone disease (MBD) which caused fractures of his leg bones followed by joint damage and finally made him unable walk or even stand. MBD in elephants has only been reported to occur in orphaned calf’s raised from an early age on only or mostly with artificial milk replacers. In this condition the body of the elephant despite normal levels of calcium and phosphor in the blood is unable to physiologically metabolize the available calcium leading to a completely insufficient calcification of most bones. As a result of this bones (specially long bones of the legs) easily fracture and re-fracture after initially healing and callus formation more and more often the older and heavier the animal gets. Several such cases have been reported in orphaned hand raised Asian elephants from Asian countries as well as from western facilities but the underlying biochemical mechanism of this problem of malabsorption of calcium from an artificial diet is not understood yet. In other animals MBD has at least partially been cured (although often leaving deformations of the skeleton) by supplementing large quantities of calcium and vitamin D for several months, in elephants however this therapy has not been proven to be successful.
Although we are sad and disappointed that all our efforts during the past two years to care for Agam and successfully raise him have failed, we were also finally relieved when we heard that he had finally died and thus escaped from further pain and suffering.