By Faiza Ilyas

Copyright dawn

KARACHI: The female camel brutally ‘punished’ for straying into a landlord’s field recently underwent a major two-hour surgery on Friday at a shelter home in the metropolis, officials said on Saturday.

Sources said that the procedure was successfully performed by experts of the livestock and fisheries department — a second such procedure in recent months.

The experts included Dr Shalla Hayat, Dr Muhammad Ali Ayaz, Dr Javed Khoso, Dr Zulfiqar Haider Otto and Dr Muhammad Ali Gopang. The disease investigation was carried out by Dr Abdul Manan Khokhar, who is also the government focal person.

The 18-month-old camel — now affectionately named Chandni — is currently being kept under 24-hour observation at the Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) shelter home, located in the Murad Memon goth.

A separate unit has been created at the facility to meet her intensive health needs. Officials say Chandni is recovering.

Female camel’s right hind leg surgically removed ‘to prevent infection’

Sources said her post-operation blood tests showed presence of a potentially life-threatening blood parasitic infection that had caused a significant drop in her haemoglobin level. This situation, they said, forced the medical board — constituted by the provincial government for her care — to consider treatment options that would minimise blood loss.

“The team had to amputate her right hind leg as there was no sensation in her limb. Second, it was a strategy to help prevent the spread of the infection that’s still being treated,” an official told Dawn.

He added that her multiple jaw injuries were attended to through “bone pinning techniques” — a surgical method in which a metal pin is inserted into the centre of the broken bone to hold the pieces in place when they heal.

According to her post-operation report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, “Both procedures were performed under local and dissociative anaesthesia. Both surgeries were bloodless and painless. The animal female camel Chandni is now out of danger and in complete senses,” it says.

The medical team reaffirms that the animal will be able to swallow food within two days and eat solid food within three to five weeks. Now the focus is on her health stability and vital control, it adds.

Sources said Chandni’s complete recovery was expected in two months, after which the team would reassess her condition and plan to fit a prosthetic limb.

Meanwhile, the chief minister has directed the officials concerned to ensure good care of Chandni until she fully recovers.

“Till she heals, experts in making artificial limbs should be consulted,” a statement released by CM House says.

It might be recalled that Chandni, earlier named Sumi, was “punished” for drinking water from a pond in a landlord’s field in Sukkur. The camel was later brought to the CDRS shelter in Karachi for treatment.

The poor camel had been battling multiple life-threatening injuries, including a crushed leg and multiple jaw fractures.

The police have claimed to have arrested two of the three suspects allegedly involved in the torture reported in the Januji area in taluka Salehpat, Sukkur.

According to the complainant, when his camels were returning after drinking water from a pond, one of the suspects hit one of the camels with an axe, breaking its leg. Then he dragged the camel with his tractor. The complainant said he kept pleading with the suspects to spare the camel, but they did not listen to him. According to the FIR, the suspects reacted angrily, saying that the camel had “destroyed their crops”.

Earlier, Cammie, another female camel, suffered a similar brutality in Sanghar as punishment for foraging in a landlord’s field.

She was able to stand on her feet with the help of a prosthetic leg following a major surgery in July this year.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025