Dominique Menvielle: 14 Feb 2011: Source: Le Progres
Starting 14 Feb 2011 at the Parc de la Tete d'Or in Lyon, the elephants Baby, Nepal, and Java have been
removed, as a precaution, from appearing in public. The exhibition of animals who are suffering from contagious disease is prohibited, leaving Circus Pinder, the owner, to decide their fate.
In a letter sent today to Gilbert Edelstein, the director of Pinder, the City of Lyon announces the termination of the agreement to retire Baby and Nepal to the Parc de la Tete d'Or [Java was entrusted to the
Parc by the Circus Amar]. The circus now has a maximum of 3 months to organize the transfer of the animals back to the circus or decide to euthanize them. Screening tests for tuberculosis, a contagious disease, were positive. The diagnosis between August and November last year [2010] is now final. 2 paths of the park bordering the elephants' enclosure are closed from today [14 Feb 2011]. The State veterinary
services demanded that the group be removed from public display.
How far can the miasma of an elephant sneeze travel? A long way, we think. David Gomis director of the zoo, however, plays down the situation: "Today the risk is zero. The elephants are not in the
clinical phase, they are not shedding [the bacteria]. They are carriers of tuberculosis without becoming ill. They could have been locked in their building while the talks are progressing with Pinder.
But this is hardly possible and I want them to enjoy the outdoors. The beautiful [spring] days are coming. People will see them from afar."
What happens to the elephants who have touched the heart of the Lyonnais [public], accustomed to their presence? Still, these animals leave a comical impression on those who see them repeating the same
gestures. When one wants to get rid of a dog you accuse it of being rabid, say the malicious gossips. That is to misunderstand the seriousness with which zoos that care for animals adhere to European
programs. It is far from the menageries of yesteryear. In Lyon, the facilities are changing, so that for the giraffe and many more [animals] they are creating an African plain, reflecting the attention paid to the conditions of exhibition. "There is an intellectual honesty test," defends David Gomis, veterinarian.
What decision will Pinder take knowing that to treat the animals is considered useless? "We reiterate our proposition from 1 Oct 2010, to allow us to euthanize your animals," reads the letter from the
municipality. What is certain is that there will be no more elephants in captivity in Lyon after Java, the dean of the group, dies.
Readers are encouraged to read the elephant tuberculosis (TB) FAQ at
which are excerpted here:
"Q: Do elephants with TB pose a danger to humans?
A: The greatest risk is probably to elephant handlers that have close daily contact. In one published report (Michalak 1998), 11 of 22 handlers had positive skin tests and one handler had active TB.
Several other reports discuss the zoonotic aspects of elephant TB (Davis 2001, Maslow 1997, Montali 2001, Oh 2002). There have been no published reports of casual public contact with elephants resulting in
TB. There is always a risk of disease transmission when there is contact with an infected animal or person. People who are immunocompromised are at greater risk.
The US Centers for Disease Control says:"To become infected, a person usually has to spend a relatively long time in a closed environment where the air was contaminated by a person with untreated tuberculosis who was coughing and who had numerous _Mycobacterium tuberculosis_ organisms (or tubercle bacilli)
in secretions from the lungs or voice box (larynx). Infection is generally transmitted through the air; therefore, there is virtually no danger of its being spread by dishes, linens, and items that are touched, or by most food products.
Q: Once treatment has begun, are there still dangers to others?
A: Once treatment is initiated it appears that elephants (like people) stop shedding [bacteria] within a few weeks and are probably not infectious to other animals or people.
Q: Can TB in elephants be cured?
A: We lack a good method to know for sure that elephants have been cured. X-rays are used in humans to evaluate lung lesions but we cannot x-ray elephants so serial cultures are used post-treatment.
There is evidence that the MAPIA(TM) (multi-antigen print immunoassay) changes with treatment and may be a method to monitor treatment response (Lyashchenko 2006). A few elephants that were treated have
died and most (but not all) appear to have been free of TB when they were examined postmortem."
French laws prohibit the display of animals with contagious disease. This would be a very sorrowful loss to the public. The elephants are planned to be moved from the circus to the African Plains section of the zoo inside Parc de la Tete d'Or, and therefore they will not be in
close contact to the visiting public. The elephants are also not in the active clinical phase, so they would not be shedding any bacteria, plus once medication starts shedding also stops. This should be adequate assurance for the safety of the public. In previous incidents of tuberculosis of zoo elephants in Australia and USA, many times the animals are still exhibited in open view to the general public.
The treatment for tuberculosis in elephants is through oral medication for one full year and cost estimates range from USD 5000 to USD 50 000. Should the management not be able to afford this cost, perhaps
some 3rd party or NGO will adopt or help subsidize the cost for treatment. It is also hoped that should French law not be able to accommodate these "contagious elephants", they be temporarily moved to
an off-exhibit sanctuary for one year until the treatment is complete and returned to the zoo afterwards. Euthanasia should always be of last resort and in this case, there are still other options.
Guidelines for the control of tuberculosis in elephants are available at
.
A list of 127 references for tuberculosis in elephants is available at
.
http://www.leprogres.fr/sante/2011/02/14/parc-de-la-tete-d-or-les-elephantes-porteuses-de-la-tuberculose
Starting 14 Feb 2011 at the Parc de la Tete d'Or in Lyon, the elephants Baby, Nepal, and Java have been
removed, as a precaution, from appearing in public. The exhibition of animals who are suffering from contagious disease is prohibited, leaving Circus Pinder, the owner, to decide their fate.
In a letter sent today to Gilbert Edelstein, the director of Pinder, the City of Lyon announces the termination of the agreement to retire Baby and Nepal to the Parc de la Tete d'Or [Java was entrusted to the
Parc by the Circus Amar]. The circus now has a maximum of 3 months to organize the transfer of the animals back to the circus or decide to euthanize them. Screening tests for tuberculosis, a contagious disease, were positive. The diagnosis between August and November last year [2010] is now final. 2 paths of the park bordering the elephants' enclosure are closed from today [14 Feb 2011]. The State veterinary
services demanded that the group be removed from public display.
How far can the miasma of an elephant sneeze travel? A long way, we think. David Gomis director of the zoo, however, plays down the situation: "Today the risk is zero. The elephants are not in the
clinical phase, they are not shedding [the bacteria]. They are carriers of tuberculosis without becoming ill. They could have been locked in their building while the talks are progressing with Pinder.
But this is hardly possible and I want them to enjoy the outdoors. The beautiful [spring] days are coming. People will see them from afar."
What happens to the elephants who have touched the heart of the Lyonnais [public], accustomed to their presence? Still, these animals leave a comical impression on those who see them repeating the same
gestures. When one wants to get rid of a dog you accuse it of being rabid, say the malicious gossips. That is to misunderstand the seriousness with which zoos that care for animals adhere to European
programs. It is far from the menageries of yesteryear. In Lyon, the facilities are changing, so that for the giraffe and many more [animals] they are creating an African plain, reflecting the attention paid to the conditions of exhibition. "There is an intellectual honesty test," defends David Gomis, veterinarian.
What decision will Pinder take knowing that to treat the animals is considered useless? "We reiterate our proposition from 1 Oct 2010, to allow us to euthanize your animals," reads the letter from the
municipality. What is certain is that there will be no more elephants in captivity in Lyon after Java, the dean of the group, dies.
Readers are encouraged to read the elephant tuberculosis (TB) FAQ at
"Q: Do elephants with TB pose a danger to humans?
A: The greatest risk is probably to elephant handlers that have close daily contact. In one published report (Michalak 1998), 11 of 22 handlers had positive skin tests and one handler had active TB.
Several other reports discuss the zoonotic aspects of elephant TB (Davis 2001, Maslow 1997, Montali 2001, Oh 2002). There have been no published reports of casual public contact with elephants resulting in
TB. There is always a risk of disease transmission when there is contact with an infected animal or person. People who are immunocompromised are at greater risk.
The US Centers for Disease Control says:"To become infected, a person usually has to spend a relatively long time in a closed environment where the air was contaminated by a person with untreated tuberculosis who was coughing and who had numerous _Mycobacterium tuberculosis_ organisms (or tubercle bacilli)
in secretions from the lungs or voice box (larynx). Infection is generally transmitted through the air; therefore, there is virtually no danger of its being spread by dishes, linens, and items that are touched, or by most food products.
Q: Once treatment has begun, are there still dangers to others?
A: Once treatment is initiated it appears that elephants (like people) stop shedding [bacteria] within a few weeks and are probably not infectious to other animals or people.
Q: Can TB in elephants be cured?
A: We lack a good method to know for sure that elephants have been cured. X-rays are used in humans to evaluate lung lesions but we cannot x-ray elephants so serial cultures are used post-treatment.
There is evidence that the MAPIA(TM) (multi-antigen print immunoassay) changes with treatment and may be a method to monitor treatment response (Lyashchenko 2006). A few elephants that were treated have
died and most (but not all) appear to have been free of TB when they were examined postmortem."
French laws prohibit the display of animals with contagious disease. This would be a very sorrowful loss to the public. The elephants are planned to be moved from the circus to the African Plains section of the zoo inside Parc de la Tete d'Or, and therefore they will not be in
close contact to the visiting public. The elephants are also not in the active clinical phase, so they would not be shedding any bacteria, plus once medication starts shedding also stops. This should be adequate assurance for the safety of the public. In previous incidents of tuberculosis of zoo elephants in Australia and USA, many times the animals are still exhibited in open view to the general public.
The treatment for tuberculosis in elephants is through oral medication for one full year and cost estimates range from USD 5000 to USD 50 000. Should the management not be able to afford this cost, perhaps
some 3rd party or NGO will adopt or help subsidize the cost for treatment. It is also hoped that should French law not be able to accommodate these "contagious elephants", they be temporarily moved to
an off-exhibit sanctuary for one year until the treatment is complete and returned to the zoo afterwards. Euthanasia should always be of last resort and in this case, there are still other options.
Guidelines for the control of tuberculosis in elephants are available at
A list of 127 references for tuberculosis in elephants is available at
http://www.leprogres.fr/sante/2011/02/14/parc-de-la-tete-d-or-les-elephantes-porteuses-de-la-tuberculose
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