Arya
Year of arrival: 2020
Age at the time of arrival: Approximately 50 years old
Sex: Female
Recognisable features: Depigmented borders on her ears. Arya is a tall elephant and stands with her head slightly raised
Health condition when rescued: Completely blind in both eyes; overgrown and cracked toenails, torn foot pads; delicate and poor body composition owing to malnutrition
Facility: Elephant Hospital Campus (EHC)
Favourite food: Green fodder, watermelons and raw bananas
Closest to: Zara
Favourite activities: Actively uses her trunk to survey her surroundings
Background: Arya spent most part of her life in pain, navigating through narrow streets, dragging her ailing feet through the harsh concrete roads. Due to her complete loss of vision, it was a nightmare for her to steer through the blaring traffic to beg. She finally stepped onto soft earth as she climbed off the Elephant Ambulance and walked into the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital Campus. |READ MORE ABOUT ARYA
arya’S STORY
Arya’s daily routine of begging on the streets of Uttar Pradesh was an exhausting one. She would walk on unnatural surfaces littered with shards of broken glass, stones and metal scraps every day. Arya’s left eye was irreversibly damaged perhaps due to an earlier injury. Blind in both eyes, she slowly began to use her trunk to navigate through busy streets. Wildlife SOS learnt of Arya’s plight amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and she was safely brought to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital Campus to help her recover from her deteriorating condition.
Arya was suffering from overgrown and cracked toenails and her foot pads were torn thin. Her loss of vision initially made her slightly wary of her new surroundings, but the elephant care staff and our team of veterinarians gently made Arya feel comfortable and at ease.
Intensive foot care treatment was provided to her, and a nutritious diet was charted out so that the pachyderm gains strength and builds her immunity. Arya enjoys munching on watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins and apples, and is not a fussy eater. Her caregivers create mud beds in her enclosure that allow her to lean and rest against them for support. Her trunk, which would anxiously seek direction on busy streets earlier, is now being used to pick up soothing mud and splash it over herself. She is also using her elongated nose to sniff out and extract the fodder filled in enrichments designed specially for her!