Wayanad:
Providing some relief to a 27-year-old male wild elephant, a portion of a 40 cm diameter tumour on its abdominal wall was removed in surgery in Wayanad, forest officials said.
The surgery was performed after the pachyderm was tranquilised.
Dr Arun Sakaria, Forest Veterinary surgeon, who performed the surgery two days ago, told PTI that it was a huge tumour.
Samples had been collected for pathological tests to find out if it was benign or malignant.
Pus and maggots in the tumour were removed during the hour-long intervention. Antibiotics were also given to the animal and it was radio-tagged before being let off in the forests, he said, adding the elephant's movements were being tracked.
The animal was in distress as pus was oozing out of the tumour. Though forest officials had made attempts to tranquilise the animal earlier, they were unable to do so.