Bao Mingwei has been rooted in the tropical rainforest for 19 years and participated in the rescue of more than 20 wild Asian elephants——

Doctor Elephant

　　Our reporter Huang Yu

　　In the early summer of 2021, the months-long "trip to the north" of the wild Asian elephant herd in Yunnan deeply touched people's hearts.

Whether it’s elephant herds fighting and stealing food, or hanging out and sleeping, they have repeatedly “dominated” the Internet, becoming a fascinating landscape in the eyes of people.

　　Not far from the Wild Elephant Valley in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, among the valleys of the tropical rain forest, there is the China Asian Elephant Provenance Breeding and Rescue Center.

Bao Mingwei, winner of the May 1st Labor Medal of Yunnan Province and "Yunling Craftsman", is an "elephant doctor" here.

　　In order to provide a shelter for Asian elephants who have encountered difficulties in the jungle, he has been rooted in this valley for 19 years and has participated in the rescue of more than 20 wild Asian elephants.

　　"I smell like an elephant"

　　In 2000, after graduating from Yunnan Animal Husbandry and Veterinary School, Bao Mingwei came to work in the Wild Elephant Valley Scenic Spot in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province.

　　For the first year or two, he worked in the rainforest, dealing with peacocks and snakes, and was responsible for the breeding of the Bird Garden.

Later, he became involved in wildlife rescues organized by the forestry department, assisting veterinary specialists and treating wounds for bison, red deer and monkeys.

　　In 2005, the bond with the injured little elephant Ranran gave Bao Mingwei the taste of an elephant.

　　"An adult Asian elephant weighs more than two tons and is particularly aggressive." Bao Mingwei said, however, when he was about 3 years old, he was pinched by a beast, and it was not easy to rescue Ranran from the elephant herd.

　　To this end, Bao Mingwei thought of a way to put the external medicine into a high-pressure sprayer, so that the breeder Xiong Chaoyong attracted the attention of Ranran. He took the sprayer and sprayed a few times on Ranran's injured leg, waiting for Ranran to respond. When he came, he had already run away.

　　He also modified a blowpipe, which can stand 10 or 20 meters away from the elephant and inject medicine into the elephant.

　　The problem of applying medicine was solved, but Ran Ran's wound soon grew new flesh.

　　Slowly, its guard against people also relaxed.

"Doctor Elephant" Bao Mingwei was finally able to approach it and record its various physical indications.

Later, more and more data were collected. By comparing and analyzing the state changes of different data, Bao Mingwei summed up a set of wild elephant body indicators to provide a reference for the treatment of other wild elephants.

　　Later, Bao Mingwei seemed to have a "magic power" in him, even the baby elephant that was just rescued would quietly "obey what he says".

In this regard, Bao Mingwei always smiled and said, "Maybe I smell like an elephant."

　　Establish a wild elephant "case database"

　　Successful treatment However, the rescue center will have one or two successful rescue cases every year.

　　In 2007, Bao Mingwei and his colleagues rescued Pingping, a mother elephant who was seriously injured.

　　Pingping was injured by a male elephant while breastfeeding. When the forest ranger Zhao Jinqing found it, a long wound was torn open on its buttocks, and its legs were soaked with blood-colored pus.

　　Bao Mingwei, veterinary experts and gynecologists completed this very difficult operation together.

　　Bao Mingwei remembered that the operation was performed four times at that time, scraping the slough of the wound layer by layer, and groping until the physical signs of the female elephant tended to be normal.

　　"Wild elephants will be injured or sick for different reasons. Blind medication will damage the vital organs of animals, and even lead to the death of animals due to acute organ failure." Bao Mingwei told reporters that in the rescue of wild elephants, if there is no scientific data for reference , the disease diagnosis and medication difficulty will increase.

　　In order to solve this problem, Bao Mingwei led his colleagues to collect venous blood from 24 elephants in the Asian Elephant Breeding Center, and sent them to the State People's Hospital for testing. After analyzing the data obtained, the normal physiological indicators of elephants were established. And compared with the biochemical data of elephant blood under pathological conditions, so as to formulate the best treatment plan.

　　Among them, the scientific testing of blood biochemistry, urine routine, and body temperature fills the blank of routine laboratory testing of wild Asian elephants, and provides scientific data for the treatment of wild elephants.

　　"When doing some inspections for wild animals, anesthesia is required, which requires the amount of anesthesia to be determined according to the weight of the animal. Too much anesthesia will not only waste the drug, but may also lead to the death of the elephant during the anesthesia process. If the amount of anesthesia is insufficient, the The safety of the staff cannot be guaranteed, and even hundreds of thousands of yuan of equipment will be damaged." Bao Mingwei told reporters that the determination of the anesthetic dose is inseparable from the usual data accumulation.

　　With the increase in the number of cases of rescuing wild elephants, Bao Mingwei's "case database" of wild elephants is constantly being "updated".

　　"Healing and saving lives" for elephants

　　"To treat wild animals, sometimes you have to step on the disgusting animal feces, sometimes your body will be covered with animal-smelling secretions, and you may even face the danger of being attacked by animals." For Bao Mingwei, these have become accustomed to .

　　"There is not much information to refer to when dealing with elephants. For example, there is no accurate data on the normal body temperature of elephants before. Some books say it is 40 degrees Celsius, and some say it is 38 degrees Celsius. Comparative analysis, it is certain that the normal body temperature of elephants is 35.5 degrees Celsius to 37 degrees Celsius." Bao Mingwei said.

　　In August 2015, he participated in the rescue of the little elephant, Yangniu.

At that time, Yang Niu was only about 7 days old.

Bao Mingwei checked a lot of information, but could not find a successful case where such a young elephant could survive for more than two years through artificial feeding.

But even so, everyone did not choose to give up.

　　After several years of treatment and conditioning, Yang Niu's weight has grown from 76 kg at the beginning to more than 1,300 kg at present, and she is now over 6 years old.

　　"In Yangniu, we have figured out a lot of ways to take care of the baby elephants. These experiences played an important role in our later rescue of the two baby elephants, Longlong and Wenwen." Bao Mingwei said.

　　After spending so many years with elephants day and night, Bao Mingwei kept learning, observing, analyzing and summarizing, and had a certain understanding and grasp of the normal physiological indicators of elephants and the methods of anesthetizing elephants.

　　In the most recent process of anesthetizing wild elephants, he estimated the weight of the elephant with an error of only more than 50 kilograms, which is almost negligible compared to the weight of an elephant on a ton.

　　At work, Bao Mingwei also taught himself about wildlife and other aspects.

With years of accumulated experience and superb medical skills, he has become an excellent "elephant doctor".

In our country, there are only a handful of professional "elephant doctors" like him.

　　"If more people focus on this field, the protection and rescue of Asian elephants can be better achieved." Bao Mingwei told reporters.