![Sample our Environment & Agriculture journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5934/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Environment-Agriculture.jpg"})
Abstract
A 10-year-old male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) at Samburu National Reserve in Northern Kenya, weighing approximately 1,600 kg, presented with an umbilical hernia in October 2013. Umbilical herniorrhaphy was carried out under field conditions. Anesthesia was induced and maintained using etorphine hydrochloride for 3 hours during the surgery. This case report details both the surgical and anesthetic procedure carried out to correct the hernia, and the eventual successful recovery of the elephant from anesthesia. However, the elephant died weeks after the surgery and a postmortem could not reveal the cause of death because predators had scavenged the carcass. The challenges of the surgical procedure and outcome including possible causes of death are highlighted in this report.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge support of the veterinary surgeons team by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) who airlifted the team to Samburu National Reserve through the Sky Vet Initiative. Thank you DSWT for collaborating with Kenya Wildlife Service to aid our conservation work. Last but not least, we sincerely thank Lina Sideras (DSWT), Kanyiha Mbogori (Boston, MA, USA Contributor), and Kagendo Mbogori – linguist (Melbourne, Australia Contributor) who were English copy editors.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.