Corbett gets first high-tech lab facility to diagnose, cure tiger, leopard, elephant ailments early

The Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) has, for the first time, established a mini wildlife laboratory for the early detection and treatment of wildlife ailments within the reserve and other parts of the Himalayan state.

The laboratory, equipped with high-tech machines, specifically calibrated to examine Schedule I animals—mainly tigers, leopards, and elephants—has been set up at CTR’s Dhikala Range Rescue Centre.

Advertisement

CTR officials said that the newly set up wildlife modern lab will enable expedite examination of sick or injured wild animals without wasting much time. Previously, blood and other body samples of sick animals had to be sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Bareilly or Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, with reports taking three to four days to come. Officials claimed now, this facility will be available instantly in CTR.

Dr Dushyant Sharma, Senior Veterinary Officer at Corbett Tiger Reserve informed “machines installed at the lab are based on latest technology developed in Japan and Chennai to test samples and cure wildlife. These are specially designed for nursing tigers, leopards and elephants.”

“This mini-lab will provide facilities like CBC (Complete Blood Count), liver function tests, kidney function tests, urine analysis, platelet counts, blood gas analysis, blood biochemistry analysis, and portable X-rays. This will allow us to immediately determine if the animal has anemia, an infection, or organ problems, and treatment can be started right away based on the report” said Sharma.

Sharma added, “Earlier, it used to take three to four days to send blood samples of sick wild animals to Indian Veterinary Research Institute(IVRI) Bareilly. This often delayed treatment of the ailing animals for the want of report. Now, this first high-tech lab at Corbett’s Dhikala Range Rescue Centre will facilitate evidence-based treatment. Diagnosis and treatment of the animals can begin immediately upon receiving the report.”

He clarified that the lab’s work area will not be limited to the Corbett Tiger Reserve entire state will benefit from it. Samples of the sick wild animals from any part of the state can be examined here.

Dr Saket Badola, Director CTR said, “This mini-lab has been set up under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative in collaboration with the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature and Japanese corporate house Fujifilm. This is the first time that high-quality machines have been installed in Corbett for testing blood and other samples collected from wildlife. In the future, the facility will be linked to other wildlife rescue centers of the state.”

CTR Director further stated that modern equipments in the newly developed lab include a blood analyser, blood biochemistry analyser, Kidney Function Test (KFT) machine, blood gas analyser, urine analyser, CBC (Complete Blood Count) platelet count machine and a portable X-ray machine as well. These devices have been calibrated for large animals to ensure accurate and reliable test results.