Coimbatore foresters who treated ailing mother elephant now finds her calf, reunite them

COIMBATORE: Efforts were on to reunite a stranded elephant calf with its mother by the forest department in Coimbatore.

Forest department officials said the calf was separated from its mother elephant, which was treated and revived two days ago. The ailing mother elephant, aged around 40 years was found with its calf in Thadagam forest area on the foothills of Marudamalai hills. It was unable to stand on its feet and was revived after days of treatment by an expert team of veterinarians. On recovery, the elephant retreated into the forest area. Meanwhile, its calf was found stranded at an arecanut farm in ‘Kuppe Palayam’ near Thondamuthur on Wednesday.

The forest department staff took care of the calf by giving lactogenic milk in a feeding bottle before taking it to the Marudhamalai foothills in a jeep. As its mother elephant was spotted in the locality, efforts were initiated to reunite the calf by a team of more than 30 staff of the forest department.

In another wildlife-related incident, a barely two-week-old elephant calf was found dead in the Anaikatti forest area in Sigur Forest Range near Masinagudi. It was spotted during a routine perambulation by a team of frontline staff.

On receiving information, a team of forest department officials rushed to the spot and an examination revealed the carcass to have died in a suspected attack by a carnivore. After a post-mortem, the carcass was left to be consumed by other animals.