KARACHI: Ailing elephant Madhubala`s condition has improved considerably over the week and it is critical that she continues to get holistic care, covering her nutritional, medicinal and physical needs from a dedicated veterinary team.

Dr Amir Khalil of international animal welfare organisation Four Paws expressed these views while speaking to Dawn on Thursday prior to his departure from Karachi on Friday.

A shadow of her former self, the 22-year-old female African elephant has been battling several health crises over the past few months, ranging from severe muscle and bodyweight loss, swelling over right hind leg and developing a linear fracture at the carpal joint, affecting her mobility, to contracting bacterial and parasitic infections.

Sources said acute weakness, pain, inability to properly use her hind leg, lack of rest and sleep, all contributed to causing her repeated collapse, resulting in injuries all over her body.

She along with her companion Malika also remained under treatment for tuberculosis for months.

`Madhubala is young and a fighter. Why should we give up on her? She deserves a chance,` said Dr Khalil, who supervised her treatment and care at the Safari Park for a week.

He added that there had been a 70 to 80 per cent improvement in her condition.

Over the week, the local team led by Dr Khalil treated Madhubala daily for her injuries, administered medicines, provided high pressure water massage to help ease pain and improve her mobility, and fed her lots of fresh leaves, branches and vegetables (making up nearly 80pc of her food).Additionally, a medical crush is built to safely restrain the animal and treat her in a stress-free environment, along with a place created with large mounds of sand to act as a natural bed.

`The incline [in the structure] will reduce her effort to stand back up, while the green food added to her diet will help revive her muscle strength as soft green leaves are a great source of calcium and phosphorus,` Dr Khalil explained, emphasising that it`s critical to continue with the care and treatment she needed.

According to Dr Khalil, Madhubala`s re cent collapse (last Sunday) provided an opportunity for the team to treat her infected soles and properly disinfect and heal her wounds.

`It also helped Madhubala to get the muchneeded rest. Sleep is vital for elephants as it helps repair muscles and joints.

About her fracture, Dr Khalil said that these kinds of fractures took a long time to recover, stressing that hind limbs were extremely important for elephants as they carried much of their weight. Dr Khalil, who extended his stay from four days to seven days for the sake of Madhubala, sounded hopeful for her recovery. `Madhubala needs complete rehabilitation, especially recovery from her fracture, through medicaltreatment,proper nutrition, and physical therapy. She deserves a chance at life and we must support her.

Madhubala had been in solitary confinement at Karachi Zoo following the tragic death of her companion Noor Jehan, who died in 2023 after a tragic fall in her enclosure.

Noor Jehan`s autopsy report released by the KMC showed that she died from a severe blood parasitic infection and internal trauma combined with a lack of proper medical care.

Left alone at the zoo, Madhubala was successfully relocated to Safari Park where she was reunited with her sisters Sonia and Malika in November 2024 under the supervision of Four Paws, which had worked extensively with the KMC for elephant care.

The success story of her reunion faded as soon as Sonia died a month later after collapsing in her Safari Park enclosure.

Lab reports later showed that she suffered from multiple chronic illnesses, affecting almost all vital organs, indicating prolonged neglect in her care and failure in timely diagnosis.

Successive deaths of captive elephants raisedpublic outcry, forcing the KMC to set up an 18-member body last year to look after Madhubala and Malika, both of whom were diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The four female elephants were brought to Karachi from Tanzania in 2010 at a very young age under a controversial arrangement.