The Warsaw Zoo has said it will begin giving its elephants medical marijuana as part of a groundbreaking pilot project to test how it reduces their stress levels.
Medical cannabis has been used worldwide to treat dogs and horses, but “this is probably the first initiative of its kind for elephants,” said Agnieszka Czujkowska, the veterinarian responsible for the project.
The zoo’s three African elephants will receive liquid doses of a high concentration of the relaxing cannabinoid CBD through their strains.
The vet said the CBD does not cause euphoria or harmful side effects on the liver and kidneys.
“It is an attempt to find a new natural alternative to the existing methods of combating stress, especially pharmaceuticals,” Czujkowska said.
The project, she said, comes at an opportune time because the zoo herd recently had to deal with the death of their alpha female. The zoo controls the stress of the elephants by controlling their hormone levels and by behavioral observation.
Czujkowska said it will take about two years before her team has any results. If successful, the initiative could then be tried with other animals living in captivity.
“Contrary to what some would suggest, elephants will not use cannabis pipes, nor will they get large fats from them,” Czujkowska said angrily.
The first doses will be comparable to those given to horses: a bottle worth a dozen drops of CBD oil, two or three times a day.
“The female Fryderyka has already had a chance to try it and she did not say no,” Czujkowska said.
Poaching has decimated the world elephant population, which in Africa dropped from several million at the turn of the 19th century to the present day about 400,000.
