Running A Hospital For Giants
Have you ever wondered how it’d feel if you entered a world of Giants? In fact, let’s imagine a hospital where the giants come to receive treatments. Can you visualise the sheer size of the building? And the massive corridors and gates to let them in?
The Wildlife SOS’s Elephant Hospital isn’t too far from that imagination.
This is where a distressed elephant arrives after our team conducts rescues from a variety of challenging situations.
One of the first things to note about treating a colossal animal weighing 4 tonnes is that along with accommodating their enormity, the care of a pachyderm requires time and patience.
Every aspect of treatment, from transporting the elephant in an ambulance to providing suitable care at the rehabilitation centre, happens at a level where conventional veterinary procedures might no longer apply. The processes take longer, tools must be adapted, and even routine care becomes a matter of team work with the patients.
When elephants like Hari or Veer are rescued after decades of captivity, they do not arrive with a single, isolated condition. They arrive with layers of physical and behavioural damage: worn feet, weakened joints, chronic malnutrition, often compounded over years of neglect and trauma.
Once the elephant safely reaches our facility, the role of the hospital begins. Not just as a place of healing for these survivors, but also as a safe haven that is far away from the chaotic world that they knew.
At the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital Campus (EHC) in Mathura, the focus is on long-term medical management and care. Spread across 50 acres, the facility functions as a combination of hospital, rehabilitation centre, and specialised care unit that accommodates the physical and behavioural needs of these large mammals.
What Do Elephants Need Medical Care For?
Most elephants admitted in EHC share backgrounds of captivity, and the trauma of neglect. For a wild Asian elephant, natural life involves constant movement through jungles, grasslands, swamps and a variety of other terrains. This exercise supports their joints, builds muscle strength, and maintains an overall physiological balance.
In captive conditions, this natural rhythm breaks down. Restricted movement, hard flooring, and unnatural postures begin to take a cumulative toll on their physical health. Over time, they suffer from degenerative joint conditions, weakened musculature, and severe foot problems, including cracks, infections, and abscesses.
Get familiar with our In-house Diagnostic Equipments
Diagnosing an elephant often requires an entirely different approach to scale, precision, and speed.
Unlike smaller animals, early symptoms in elephants are often subtle. A slight shift in weight, a hesitation in movement, or a minor change in posture can indicate deeper underlying conditions. By the time visible signs appear, issues such as joint degeneration, internal injuries, or infections may already be advanced.
This makes diagnostic capability central to the hospital’s functioning.
Even basic metrics, such as body weight, require specialised systems. Elephants are weighed using a reinforced platform capable of supporting several tonnes, allowing veterinarians to track gradual fluctuations that may signal improvement or decline.
The facility is equipped with the most advanced tools required for accurately diagnosing an elephant. These include digital radiography systems, ultrasound, thermal imaging, portable digital X-ray and laser therapy units used to examine soft tissue, helping detect internal infections, abscesses, or organ-related concerns that are not externally visible.
Supporting this is an in-house pathology laboratory, where blood samples are processed on-site. In cases where conditions can escalate quickly, time saved in diagnostics directly impacts recovery outcomes.
Wildlife SOS in 2025 also launched a pioneering mobile elephant treatment service called ‘Haathi Sewa’. The initiative tackles the problem of accessibility to healthcare for elephants across the country, and aims to provide quality treatment on-site itself. So far, the programme has treated nearly 200 elephants across more than 10 states in India.
Physical Care of these Gentle Giants
Movement, or the lack of it, is one of the most significant challenges in elephant recovery.
For many rescued elephants, moving is painful due to long-term joint damage or foot injuries. However, immobility creates its own set of complications, including muscle deterioration, reduced circulation, and delayed healing.
To address these conditions, the hospital integrates hydrotherapy into its rehabilitation approach. The facility includes a large pool designed specifically for elephants, where buoyancy reduces the effective body weight on joints and limbs.
The hydrotherapy pool at the hospital is a huge structure that is 15 ft wide, 46 ft long and 11 ft deep. The pool is also fitted with 21 high power water jets that provide a comforting massage to the elephants, reducing muscle tension and improving blood circulation in their body.
Aside from the therapeutic “jacuzzi” we have just mentioned, each elephant enclosure also has a private pool that is diligently maintained by the caregiving staff. Elephants have complete access to it and can choose to lounge within it whenever they want. The pool in summers is treated as a cooling resort for enclosure mates to gather together for a splashingly good time.
In water, elephants are able to shift their weight off their limbs, allowing muscles to relieve themselves. Experiencing no strain enables gradual rebuilding of strength and mobility, particularly in cases where elephants were first forced to walk on harsh, unnatural surfaces, and then, were confined under chains — both for prolonged periods.
A river runs right beside our campus too, so elephants get to enjoy scenic walks with a taste of wilderness.
Bringing out the Heavy Machinery
When an elephant is unable to stand on their own, it becomes very challenging to support an animal of their size and weight.
Prolonged immobility can quickly lead to secondary complications. The animal’s own body weight places continuous pressure on muscles, joints, and internal systems, increasing the risk of further injury..
To address this, the hospital uses crane-assisted lifting systems or medical-hoists fitted with specially designed, cushioned harnesses. These systems allow veterinarians and caregivers to safely raise an elephant to a standing position without placing additional strain on injured limbs. The process is gradual and controlled, ensuring that weight is redistributed evenly and movement is not forced prematurely.
This is often a repeated intervention, carried out over days or weeks to help the elephant regain strength and rebuild its ability to stand independently.
In Bani’s case, she was partially paralysed when she was rescued, and needed utmost support to stand up. She required sling support to stand so as to prevent bedsores and infection that occur when immobile.
In addition to customised care, all enclosures are adapted to provide passive support. Padded structures and massive reinforced frames allow elephants to lean, rest, and stabilise themselves while standing, reducing the risk of collapse and preventing further stress on weakened joints. The facility also keeps multiple compact excavators which can serve the function of digging and tilling the grounds of our campus in order to make it soft and comfortable for elephants to walk on.
These reflect a broader reality of working at this scale: care often requires custom-built solutions.
Finally, the Food!
Feeding and nourishment of elephants is a huge logistics operation at EHC.
An adult elephant in the wild is known to forage for nearly 20 hours, consuming over 150 kilograms of fodder in a single day.
Understanding their needs and planning their diet chart has our facility serving approximately 6,000 kilograms of green fodder to rescued elephants every day, along with 900 kilograms of fresh fruits and vegetables that last for about two days.
But volume is only one part of the equation. Each elephant follows a diet that is aligned with their medical condition. Those recovering from malnutrition require gradual nutritional rebuilding, while others may need controlled diets based on metabolic or digestive concerns.
Laxmi is one such exceptional case. She was a ‘begging’ elephant who was fed a diet of fried food from the streets. Unlike the rescues made of underfed elephants, she was found to be severely overweight, which caused immense strain on her joints and body. Our caregivers faced the unique challenge of changing Laxmi’s diet preference from oily junk to healthy greens.
On the other hand, our staff also handled the case of another Lakshmi, who was once labelled as ‘India’s skinniest elephant’. Lakshmi was also a ‘begging’ elephant but unlike Laxmi, she was extremely malnourished which caused bent knees and visible bony projections along her spine. Her diet had to be very carefully planned because a sudden weight gain would have been disastrous for her limbs that didn’t have enough strength to support her frame.
At the same time, tools such as food-based enrichments are also created and installed in elephant enclosures. In these, fodder or fruit may be hidden, suspended, or distributed across their enclosure to encourage movement and natural foraging patterns, supporting both physical rehabilitation and mental stimulation.
As their meals, a cooked concentrate is prepared daily for elephants that comprises horse gram, millets, brown rice and rock salt. To cater to our elephants at EHC, over 36 kilos of this nutritious meal is cooked each day, and therefore, the utensils needed to prepare that amount of food are nothing short of gigantic too.
The Biggest Challenge: Time and Trust
Healing extends beyond physical treatment. Many elephants arrive with behavioural signs of prolonged stress, isolation, and harsh handling. Addressing these requires a calm and patient approach that combines environment design, routine, and gradual social exposure.
Enclosures include sand and mud to reduce stress on joints while encouraging movement. Water bodies available and frequent mud baths that elephants are able to take support their health, comfort and natural behaviour. Enrichment activities stimulate cognitive engagement, while social interactions are introduced gradually to rebuild familiarity and trust.
These elements are a core part of rehabilitation, as the success of the treatment depends on the relationship we cultivate with our elephants.
In summary, running an elephant hospital requires a fresh understanding of what a medical facility should be for the wild.
Every aspect of care, diagnosis, treatment, nutrition, movement, and rehabilitation requires specialised infrastructure, adapted environments, and sustained human effort.
The Elephant Hospital Campus in Mathura operates within this reality every day. It is a space where science, logistics, and compassion come together as parts of a single system designed to support animals of immense size and profound complexity.
With the constant support from those concerned and passionate about wildlife, we ensure that every elephant under our care receives the best possible treatment and care. You too can join Wildlife SOS’s family by contributing towards elephant care.
Feature Image: Atharva Pacharne / Wildlife SOS
