The local version of a national newspaper devoted a whole Saturday page on this story:
The ones who were there will not easily forget. The locally anaesthetized elephant Irma, chained, surrounded by an army of vetenerians, keepers and other experts, working hard to release her from the baby she wasn’t able to give birth to one year ago.
Zoo Blijdorp, Tuesday morning. Finally the long awaited calve of elephant Douanita is born – her name is Tonya, after director Ton Dorresteijn who will leave March 1st. Happiness but also concern because Irma, the oldest member of the herd went into labor.
It started what should have happened one year ago: delivering a young that died within the womb at that moment but seems to come out now (note for the critics, the womb of an elephant is located just beneath the backbone – removing the remains by an operation is really not an option if you want the mother elephant to survive. There is history material that shows that the dead young can be successfully removed (many) years later). What looked like a releave turned into a nightmare.
Then it’s Wednesday. A reconstruction of that day in the words of the new director Marc Damen, who closely followed the whole process.
08.00 hrs. Elephant Irma is found laying down in Taman Indah, the inside enclosure at Blijdorp. The decision is made to close down the complex for public with a note that “With baby Tonya everything is OK, but her birth trigged a lot in aunt Irma” (note: which sort of was expected and anticipated).
10.00 hrs: The vetenarian concludes that the dead young of Irma is locked at the end of the birth chanal, close to the pelvis. They want to avoid cutting into the elephant because healing is not so easy. “For us only one thing mattered and that was Irma surviving this ordeal.” According to Damen.
12.00 hrs: A press release is sent: “The pending birth of this calve brings great risks for the mother animal.”. Irma is lightly sedated. It has been decided to make a cut of 10 cm to access the corpse. It turns out to be a breech. Besides, the calve is very big and heavy (85 kg.). Damen: “Fortunately Irma is a easy cow”.
14.00 hrs. The operation continues. The team, now consisting of two vetenerians, get parts of the deceased elephant out. The people that have been working for hours on this are getting tired. The mood becomes subdues as big parts of the young – among others het head – is stuck. All consider the remaining options.
17.00 hrs. More help comes in, among others specialists from the University of Utrecht and another vetenerian. “Those had a fresh view and what we needed most: more muscle power.” According to Damen.
20.00 hrs. Feverisly work continues. It’s real teamwork, according to Damen. “For example the two keepers at the front of Irma who held her trunk and frontleg. They have been standing there for ten hours and made sure the elephant remained calm. We had to trust each other blindly because an elephant remains a dangerous animal.
22.00 hrs. The last parts of the elephant corpse come out: the head with the trunk. After that it was a matter of cleaning the wound and closing it. The outer skin layer is still open, so the wound flued can get out.
01.00 hrs. “Operation Irma” is over. The remains of the dead calve are being brought to the lab; it turns out te be female. Because the expect problems with the wound, Irma receives antibiotics and tranquilizers.
08.00 hrs. The keepers and vetenerian check on Irma. She didn’t sleep and is exhausted. Because they didn’t want to trouble her any more and mix the antibiotics with the food. But she’s alert enough to refuse just that food. Damen: “we have good hopes that everything will turn out for the better. The vetenerian has convidence in that
