We tested the elephants for tuberculosis today. Apparently elephants in captivity are at quite a high risk for contracting TB so the vets here do a test every 6 months. Because of the amount of contact that elephants have with humans, it is easy for sickness to spread. For the test we bring the elephants one by one over to the mounting block (which we stand on), then the mahout tells the elephant to raise its trunk. One of us then grabs the trunk and pours this liquid into it. We then have to hold the trunk upright for 20 seconds. After the 20 seconds is up, the elephant gets to spit out the liquid, but we have to catch it in a bucket so it can be sent to the lab for tests. Seems simple right??? Well it would be if the elephants wanted to cooperate, Pooja was, in her own wonderful way, a nightmare. She wouldn't let us grab her trunk and when Ruan (the elephant manager) tried, she knocked him off the block. Then when we managed to get the liquid in her trunk she turned and sprayed all of us with it. Thanks Pooja. So it took us a couple of hours to do all the elephants, but we did it, not we just have to wait for the test results!
After our busy day, a couple of us volunteers decided to lounge poolside for a while where i got my long awaited massage from Dan who is a qualified masseuse...didn't tell me he used baby oil on my back so went home after continuing sunbathing to find that i had semi fried my back...it was a wonderful massage though!
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