In the worst cases, particularly when keepers do not have a close working relationship with the elephant, the only way to trim overgrown nails and treat an infected foot is to anesthetize the elephant, a procedure the animal has a poor chance of surviving. Haist uses hoof trimming tools to scrape away dead skin on the bottom of Billy's foot. In the wild, elephants die from infections that began with a small crack on a foot. In captivity, keepers can prevent these injuries with simple maintenance procedures. It begins with checking each elephant's feet on a regular basis, usually every day.
Keepers wash each elephant's feet during their daily bath, checking for cracks and small rocks.
An elephant's sweat glands are located in the cuticles, so keeping the cuticles clean is important. If keepers do find cracks in the foot, they tend to them immediately. A crack that appears small on the outside can quickly grow very deep into the foot. Using the same tools a farrier uses on horses' hooves, the keepers carefully scrape the dead skin from the cracks, cleaning away until the healthy skin shows. Keepers also cut back overgrown cuticles and trim away excess toenail.