Kollam: Four female horses in Kollam have undergone a rare pregnancy test by the tele-veterinary unit here. The test has proved that they are not pregnant, disappointing their two owners-- Rasheed of Thundil Veedu at Patharam, Sooranadu, and Manu of Karunagappally. They had mated the mares-- Santy, Riya, Meenakshi and Rani- five months ago and tried traditional methods, including manual palpation techniques, to detect pregnancy, which proved futile.
Hence, a scanning was done by the tele-veterinary unit facilitated by the animal husbandry department.
The mobile unit used portable X-ray and ultra sound scanning to conduct the tests. The gestation period of mares varies from 320 to 362 days. They protest inspection of uterine walls under manual procedure. This was overcome by the advanced methods employed by the tele-veterinary unit.
The mares were used for film shooting and other events.
