A team of doctors and veterinarians in Pakistan has developed an innovative treatment for two elephants suffering from tuberculosis (TB), in which the elephants are given at least 400 pills of the drug daily.

In this massive effort by staff at the Karachi Safari Park, these pills, similar to those used to treat human tuberculosis, are hidden in foods ranging from apples and bananas to Pakistani sweets.

The amount of medicine has been adjusted according to the weight of elephants weighing 4,000 kilograms (8,800 pounds).

But Madhubala and Malika are weeks away from treatment, as they spit out some of the bitter medicine they tasted earlier and angrily attack their caretakers.

Treating elephants for tuberculosis is always a challenge. Every day we use different methods', Sri Lankan veterinarian Buddhika Bandara said for treatment. 

"The animals showed some stress at first, but gradually they adapted to the process," said Bandara, who has helped more than a dozen elephants recover from disease in Sri Lanka.

Mahute Ali Baloch wakes up every morning to cook rice and lentils, mixing lots of sugar cane with molasses and mixing it into dozens of balls covered with medicinal pills. 

“I know the pills are bitter,” said Mahute, 22, as he watched the elephants play with water from pipes to keep cool.

From humans to elephants

Four African elephants that were caught at a very young age in the jungles of Tanzania arrived in Karachi in 2009.

Noor Jahan died in 2023 at the age of 17 and the other Sonia at the end of 2024. An autopsy revealed that he had tuberculosis. It is an endemic disease in Pakistan.

Madhubala and Malika also tested positive and the city council that owns the safari park formed a team to look after the elephants.

According to Bandara, it is not uncommon for elephants to contract infectious diseases from humans, but Sonia—and now Madhubala and Malika—had no symptoms.