Sonepur is a small non-descript town in Saran district of Bihar. Despite its unremarkable environs, two of its features are astonishingly large. The first is its railway platform, probably the second largest in the world with a length of 2,415 ft, second only to the Storvik railway station in Sweden that has a platform length of 2,470 ft. Its’ other large feature being the cattle fair, second in volume to the Pushkar Mela, but with the distinction of hosting the world’s largest elephant fair.

Elephants have a legendary connection with Sonepur. The story goes that the sage Agastya cursed Indradyumna and turned him into an elephant. He lived on the banks of the Ganges at Sonepur.

Another sage cursed a Gandharva chief named Huhu when he disturbed his meditations and turned him into a crocodile and lived in this river. One day, when the elephant came to bathe in the river, the crocodile caught him by his leg. The elephant could not shake off the crocodile and after a long tussle, prayed to Lord Vishnu. His prayer was answered and Vishnu cut the crocodile’s head with his chakra (disc). The touch of the chakra released Huhu from the curse and he went to heaven. Vishnu also released Indradyumna from his curse by touching his forehead and took him to his abode, Vaikuntha.

Legend apart, the elephant fair at Sonepur is the pride of the mela. The elephant fair begins in a mango orchard on the banks of the Ganges a few days before the official opening of the mela on Kartik Purnima, which fell on November 30 this year. The Sonepur Mela also attracts cattle of every kind, goat and sheep, horses, and even dogs and birds. A regular exhibition ground springs up in the town, which is open for a whole month. The cattle, elephants and other animals leave after four or five days of hectic trading. But every visitor makes sure that the mango orchards are part of their itinerary so that they can gawk at the pachyderms lined up there.

Captive elephants have a lot of health problems. Malnutrition diseases like edema and blindness, wounds caused by mahouts, rope wounds, fissures on the footpads and bedsores are the most common. And most of the owners do not have access to proper medical care. For the first time in the history of the mela, the Wildlife Trust of India in association with the International Fund for Animal welfare (IFAW) held a health check-up camp for these elephants. Dr NVK Ashraf, WTI veterinarian says the state of health of the elephants is indicative of the owner’s interest in the animal. “Those who buy these animals purely for commercial purposes, singularly lack interest in their well-being. But those who own them as an indication of their status, look after them much better,” he says. Incidentally, on examination by Dr Asharf, it was found that almost 80 per cent of the elephants at Sonepur had one or more of these ailments; only 20 per cent did not have any health problems.

“Most of these health problems are simple, curable problems and a little bit of care can easily prevent them,” he adds. But the elephant-keepers (mahouts) are mostly illiterate and go by traditional cures instead of using the services of a vet. Elephant -owner Ram Lakhan Verma, also a former Uttar Pradesh minister, was more than happy to get his three elephants checked up by the vet. “I live in a small village, (Tahapur, in Ambedkar Nagar district) and we do not have any vets there. And the vets in the bigger towns have no experience in handling elephants and are afraid to do so,” he says. Except for a few bedsores, Sher Bahadur, his30-year-old, 10 ft tall tusker, was healthy. “I have kept these elephants as my pets. Just as in the cities people keep dogs as symbol of their status, I keep elephants,” he says, proudly.

WTI’s team at Sonepur not only examined all the elephants for health problems, but also gave away deworming medication to all elephants. Initially, the team faced a lot of resistance from the owners. “The owners are mostly here to sell their elephants and do not want to openly admit that their elephant is ill,” explains Mr Santosh Kumar Singh, owner of the mango orchard, where the elephant mela is held. But after the initial resistance, many owners openly sought WTI’s help to treat their elephants. Like Yakub Ali, a resident of ITO, Delhi, whose elephant had previously been treated by WTI in Delhi. One of his elephants, Lakshmi, had got hurt in the foot while being loaded on the truck to Sonepur. It also had other problems like edema and a few sores. And WTI’s doctor proved to be a blessing in disguise for him. Ali got the elephant treated and in the next two days managed to sell the elephant, which had by then begun to heal.

Motigaj, a 40-year-old tusker, was also hurt while being transported to Sonepur. In fact, his left tusk broke as a result of getting caught on the sides of the truck. The pulp cavity was infected and the animal was in considerable pain. WTI handed over medicines for its treatment to the mahout as the elephant was in musth.

Another elephant, 20-year-old female called Gulabi, had wounds all over her body, and was possibly pregnant. Owner Ranjit Jaiswal says he bought the elephant is this condition from an Assamese trader. A resident of Sitamarhi district, Bihar, he has no access to vet services, except at Patna. “Vets here have not been able to tell me whether she is pregnant,” he says. Jaiswal and his mahout were advised by Dr Ashraf on the symptoms to look out for to diagnose the pregnancy at home and helped them treat some of the sores.

Some simple problems like edema in the neck region and fissures in the footpad were notice in a majority of the elephants. Most owners and mahout s were not aware that a healthy, high protein diet could get rid of the edema and a foot wash with potassium per manganate could soothe the fissures in the footpad.

WTI now plans to hold an annual health camp for elephants at the Sonepur Mela so that owners and mahouts can access better care for their animals.