By Erin McCarthy Published on: March 12, 2008

It's a scientific fact: Placed in front of a mirror, an elephant will recognize itself. The thick-skinned beasts are intelligent, self-aware creatures that will cry over the dead bodies of family members, even in the wild. Perhaps that's why a recent announcement by South African authorities that they would begin culling—or killing—herds of elephants as early as May 1 created such a public outcry. But the lead vet at the San Diego Zoo's state-of-the-art Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center might have the solution: a new, high-tech alternative to culling that will not only save lives, but prevent the elephant population from growing.

A moratorium on culling in 1995, when only 8000 animals remained in the wild, left South Africa's animal reserves saturated with elephants—20,000 of them, in fact. The large mammals' equally outsize appetites—they consume 660 pounds of vegetation a day—have been damaging to the South African ecosystem, turning woodland habitat into savannah and decreasing biodiversity. Scientists have attempted to control the population through injectable contraception, but that solution was temporary, and relocation of “problem" elephants, which cause the most harm, has had mixed results. Now, officials say culling—done with a minimum 0.375 caliber rifle—is a necessary “management option" that will be used only if recommended by an elephant management specialist and approved by authorities.

Jeffery Zuba, head veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, believes there is a way for African animal parks to preserve the environment without resorting to killing members of their resident herds. Along with colleagues at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Colorado University, Zuba has proposed using laparoscopic surgery—a minimally invasive procedure utilizing fiberoptic instruments—to permanently sterilize free-ranging elephants.

On a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo's medical center last fall, Zuba led me into the surgical prep area, adjacent to the main operating room, to show off the laparoscopy tools he uses on animals of all sizes.
“This," he said, holding up an endotracheal tube about the length of my index finger, “is what we use on the smaller birds. And this"—he held up a tube almost as long as I am tall—“is what we use on the elephants."
Although laparoscopic surgery is fairly commonplace in small animals, it's almost unheard of in large ones. Zuba, in conjunction with endoscope maker Karl Storz and Mark Stetter of Disney's Animal Kingdom, developed the supersize instruments in the mid-'90s because, as he told me, “We wanted to be able to do the same diagnostics in the big guys that we could in the small guys."

Laparoscopy has a number of advantages over conventional surgery, according to Zuba, including a quicker recovery time, lower chance of infection, improved prognosis and better diagnostic opportunities. But laparoscopy in elephants presents a host of challenges, too: The scientists didn't know the animal's surgical anatomy, the best way to position the animals or how much anesthesia to administer—plus, the team had to modify the equipment to be sturdier in the field.

Perhaps the biggest challenge, however, was the sheer number of elephants. In order to avoid having to sterilize every female in the park, the team decided to go after each herd's bull. “If you can stop that one male from breeding, but allow him to keep his testosterone, his bullheadedness, by not castrating him, he'll chase all the other bulls away," Zuba said. “So you've effectively contracepted all those females for anywhere from 5 to 20 years." Culling, in contrast, typically requires killing all of the animals in a herd—male, female and juvenile—because an elephant's survival depends on its role in a family unit.

The sterlization procedure goes a little something like this: Scientists choose their bull, then dart the elephant from a helicopter with an anesthetic agent 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. Once it's knocked out, about 8 to 10 minutes later, they move the elephant via flatbed truck to the surgical site. Because an elephant's testicles are located internally behind the vertebrae, surgery must be performed while the animal is standing; the scientists use a sling and a crane truck, plus leg splints, to keep him in position.

After sliding the endotracheal tube down the elephant's throat and attaching it to a specially designed ventilator (also known as intubation, in which a machine breathes for the animal), the vets perform the surgery with laparoscopic instruments and virtual goggles, which show the surgeon exactly what the scope is seeing. After the elephant is sewn up, a reversal agent is administered and “they stand up two minutes later like nothing happened," Zuba said. The elephant, fitted with a GPS collar, is then tracked for a year.

Zuba now has 13 vasectomized bulls under his belt, and the team has plats to return to Africa this summer to continue its work. Zuba and Co.
own the only two sets of elephant laproscopy tools in the world: The first set suffered a career-ending kink thanks to an elephant's thick skin, but the second set, which is thicker, with three ports for scopes, is still going strong. Zuba hopes to keep making improvements, both to the tools and to the procedure itself: “The technique isn't perfect at this point, but we want to get other people—and species—involved."
Laparoscopic techniques are already used in rhinos, and could potentially be adapted for cetaceans such as killer whales.

But laproscopic sterilization is not a solution in every animal range.
For example, it would be too daunting and time-consuming a task in parks with as many as 15,000 elephants. And because elephants have a long gestation time (22 months), it will take some time to see the results in even the smaller parks. Still, said Zuba, “For people who don't want to cull, this is one more option."

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