Happy Feet Gift

When this playful one-month-old elephant calf named Htay Phyu Naing was visited by the SPANA mobile clinic in Myanmar, he was suffering with severe skin irritation, particularly around his tiny feet.

Our vets examined the calf and identified that he had both urticaria and pruritus – two types of itchy rash that cause constant and aggravating discomfort. The source of the problem was the parasitic warble fly, which lay their eggs on other animals – even elephants, despite their thick skin. To treat the calf, the vets gave him an anti-parasitic injection and vitamins to assist with his recovery. Htay Phyu Naing’s skin problem was quickly relieved and, before long, he was able to return to playing around without discomfort.