Elephant Foot Care
Funds Needed
What
Providing pedicures for captive-held elephants and instruction for mahouts in proper foot care to support overall health and prevent osteomyelitis (bone disease).
Captivity causes foot problems
Foot health is a serious issue for elephants living in captivity. This is what healthy pads and nails look like:
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- Healthy nails
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- Healthy front pad & nails
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- Healthy rear pad
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- Healthy rear pads
Inactivity, poor husbandry practices and too much time spent standing and walking on unnaturally hard surfaces such as pavement, hard packed dirt and concrete can cause thin, uneven and bruised foot pads and cracked nails, leading to infection and osteomyelitis. These diseases have become epidemic among elephants living in captive environments.
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- Overgrown pad
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- Foot with fungus growth
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- Severely overgrown nails and rear pad
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- Ovegrown, infected front pad
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- Overgrown pads and nails
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- Dry and overgrown pad
Osteomyelitis is a bacterial infection that causes the toe bones to disintegrate, leading to the elephant’s physical collapse and subsequent death.
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- Feet with osteomyelitis
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- Foot with osteomyelitis
Aside from surgery to remove the infected toe bone, osteomyelitis is irreversible and terminal, causing years of pain and suffering.
Needed: Regular care
Proper foot care for captive-held elephants starts with giving them access to appropriate non-contaminated substrate, such as grass, natural soils and varied vegetation, which serve to condition feet, cuticles and nails as they go about their normal foraging activity.
Even in some of the best captive situations, however, elephants fail to walk the tens of miles they would walk daily in the wild. As a result, their foot pads and nails become overgrown and must be trimmed by a professional versed in elephant foot care, to make up for the lack of wear.
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- Trimmed nails
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- Trimmed nails
Ideally, foot pads and nails should be trimmed monthly to remove necrotic tissue that can harbor bacteria. Overgrowth of the nails should be removed to prevent the nail from cracking, splitting and becoming infected.
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- Cracked front nail
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- Cracked front nails
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- Split nails
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- Split nail
In most cases, captive-held elephants, especially those held in chains, develop unnatural movement patterns known as stereotypical behaviors, which is a coping mechanism they use when they are stressed. In additional to the psychological damage caused by stereotypical behavior, the elephant’s pads and nails wear unevenly, causing irreversible damage to the nail bed, resulting in lameness.
Foot trimming tools
The standard tools used for foot care include a large knife to remove pad and trim nails, a small blade to trim out infected areas and a rasp to finish the nails.
Foot care is usually administered while the elephant lies on the ground or stands with the foot propped on a fence, wall or other raised surface.
Foot care can include:
- documentation and evaluation of the condition and cleanliness of the elephant’s stable: construction, drainage, substrate, shade, waste removal, sanitation and the location and condition of leg chains and hobbles
- photographic documentation of all four feet
- visual examination and evaluation of elephant foot health
- complete pad, nail and cuticle trimming
- individualized tutoring for mahouts on their elephants’ specific needs
- follow-up re-examinations for elephants experiencing serious foot health issues
- reports for owners, including evaluation, photographic documentation and recommendations for improved foot care
