Chester Zoo Elephants

Such sad, sad news announced by Chester Zoo yesterday. Two of the Chester Zoo elephants, young babies Aayu and Nandita sadly passed away. They were both victims of the fast acting elephant herpes virus – Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV).

Understandably so, Chester Zoo conservationists, scientists, zoo keepers, directors, vets – pretty much everyone connected to Chester Zoo are absolutely devastated by the news. Needless to say many thousands of the Zoo’s regular visitors will also be so very upset.

Chester Zoo Elephants

Chester Zoo Elephants

The EEHV virus is present in almost all Asian elephants apparently. This is the case whether the elephants are either in the wild or in zoos. The virus develops into an illness in only some cases. But when it does, it is almost always fatal.

By all accounts, both Aayu and Nandita first began to show symptoms on Monday. As fast acting as the zoo specialists were there was nothing they could do to save the poor babies. Sadly, they both passed away yesterday (Thursday 25th October).

The dedicated Chester Zoo staff did everything they could to save the young babies. State of the art technology was used in the zoo’s science lab. Anti viral drugs were administered to help fight the deadly illness. Ground breaking elephant blood transfusions were also made in an attempt to help the youngsters immune systems to fight back.

All to no avail. It is bad enough to lose one, but two is indescribable.

We visit the Zoo regularly. The last visit being only a couple of weeks ago and as ever the elephants were one of the star attractions. We took a few photos and videos as the babies on this occasion seemed to be extra playful. Much to the amusement and enjoyment of the congregated visitors.

Chester Zoo elephants have always been one of the focal points of any visit.

Fight To Find A Cure

Chester Zoo is at the forefront in trying to find a cure for this terrible disease. They are in a major partnership with The University of Surrey and an international collaboration of conservationists and have made significant progress in the attempts to find a cure. All too late for babies Aayu and Nandita unfortunately.

So far there has been a sum in the region of £220,000 donated by the public to help with the fight to find a cure. If you would like to make a donation visit this link HERE.

Let’s hope a cure is found soon. As a regular Chester Zoo visitor may I thank all those who tried to save Aayu and Nandita. You are all no doubt so very devastated but I am sure you will be even more determined to find the answers to help avoid this happening again.

Chester Lifestyle

I hope you like my Chester Lifestyle website, a website not just about the City of Chester but a website also for the people of Chester. If you would like more information about the website and Chester in general, have a look at this link HERE.

Things To Do In Chester

There’s always plenty of things to do in Chester – including visiting Chester Zoo. Here’s a link for some ideas of things to do in Chester HERE.