Baby elephants under treatment for Herpes in Kerala rehab centre stable

Two elephant calves at the centre have succumbed to the infection in the last 10 days with the most recent being on Tuesday. 

After the death of the first calf -- a one-and-a-half year old female named Sreekutty -- on June 28, a postmortem was carried out and it revealed infection by Herpes virus. 

By then four other baby elephants were displaying symptoms of the infection and medicines were administered to them via IV, but one of them -- a six year old male named Arjun -- died on Tuesday. 

The remaining three continued to be under treatment and one of them - a male calf named Kannan -- was in a slightly more serious condition, the department had said. 

Kannan's condition has now stabilised to some extent and the calf was walking around a bit, Thiruvananthapuram Wildlife Warden J R Ani told PTI. 

The other two female calves are also stable and not on IV treatment any longer, the officer said. 

The remaining six calves under the age of 10 years at the centre are also not showing any symptoms of the infection, he added. 

According to the official, Herpes virus is common among elephants in the wild and manifests when their immunity is low or if they are genetically weak.