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| Thai Wildlife > Elephant |
Traditional Herbal Remedies for Thai Elephants
4. Discussion of Results
4.2 Critical evaluation of herbal remedies
For plants with scientific names, traditional uses, studied medicinal properties and known active ingredients.. The growing interest in ethnoveterinary medicine has helped to drive the research on herbal plants used for treatment of humans. As a result, elephant remedies with ingredients common to human medicine are often well-documented and well-studied.
However, the elephant, with its unique physiology, is also prone to a variety of ailments specific to this species. For instance, bloat/colic is a complaint primarily restricted to hindgut fermenters. In cases caused by excessive gas production, carminatives known to human medicine such as Kaempferia galanga and Zingiber cassumanar are employed. However, other remedies developed from observation of elephants also seem efficacious, but the mode of action is usually unknown. Still other remedies appear to have no scientific basis behind them.
Some have evolved from originally effective treatments that can no longer be used (e.g. feeding Pang Lao, or fermented rice from the making of Thai whiskey, has been replaced by spitting Thai whiskey externally over the elephant for internal problems like bloat/colic). Other treatments may be associated with superstitious learning (e.g. the elephant was going to improve anyway, therefore the treatment appeared effective and became incorporated into the knowledge passed down) or they may provide a placebo effect. Some may simply provide the elephant with extra care and attention from the mahout. This may improve the psychological well-being of the elephant, which may in turn impact physical health. A critical discussion of individual remedies follows.
4.3 Eye problems
Many eye remedies involve chewing and spitting substances into the elephants' eyes. For the most part, this appears counter-intuitive, as saliva is laden with bacteria. However, the remedy may provide a local irritant, causing the eye to start tearing. If the problem was originally caused by foreign particles in the eye, the objects would then be flushed out. For example, the Karen use cayenne pepper for eye complaints. When questioned, they admitted that this was painful, but it also irritated the eye and thus flushed any debris away. Scientific studies have also shown that cayenne is antibacterial. Both Piper betel and Allium sativum have also been shown to possess antimicrobial activity. This would explain their effectiveness and other plants, unstudied thus far, may contain similar chemicals. The final eye remedy involving elephant feces is contra-indicated and should be avoided.
4.4 Wounds
Many of the plants used in wound treatments have not been studied scientifically and warrant further research. However, Curcuma longa, Piper betel and Capsicum frutescens are known to be antibacterial and thus beneficial. C. longa also has anti-inflammatory properties and C. frutescens is a skin analgesic. The use of honey on wounds is similar to a practice in western veterinary medicine where sugar is placed wounds with antibiotics. In treatment #1, Thai whiskey is used. It contains both alcohol and formalin and these ingredients may help to disinfect the injury site. However, spitting the alcohol on the elephant's body also introduces oral bacteria into wounds. The Karen apply poultices and mixtures to injuries by pounding the wound with a soaked cloth on a stick. This may stimulate local circulation to bring in white blood cells, nutrients and various inflammatory mediators to assist with wound healing. The remedy (#3) involving cattle feces and human urine appears to be contra-indicated and is not recommended.
4.5 Musth
Management of musth primarily involves restraining bull elephants and attempting to decrease their body condition. Bulls in good condition have prolonged periods of musth, therefore decreasing food during musth should shorten this period. Gourds (Benincasa hispida) are often fed to bulls and in Nepal, these fruits have been used as abortifacients and are believed to have oxytocic properties (Joshi, 1984). Although we could not find any published scientific studies on gourds, they may possess some hormone-like components.
The exact hormonal mechanism responsible for musth is unknown, but testosterone and rostenedione ratios during musth are the inverse of ratios during non-musth periods (Niemuller and Liptrap, 1991). Therefore, if gourd components mimic hormones, this may explain their use. Papaya trees are also fed to bulls in musth. One mahout explained that the sap was toxic and it made the bull feel ill, thereby lowering its aggression level. This may be true, but the treatment is somewhat inhumane and not recommended. Other useful management strategies involve frequent baths and minimizing stress to keep the bull from getting excited and uncontrollable.
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