Day after rescue, calf reunites with herd near Gudalur

Conservator of Forests for Coimbatore Circle S Ramasubramanian said that the herd was seen in the Bennai area in the adjoining Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and was moving towards the Muthanya Forest in Wayanad, Kerala.

Forest officials had pulled out the calf from a 5-foot-deep pit on Monday. Though, they tried to unite it with the herd, the calf was chased away. 

“Chance of reunion looked close to impossible. There was resistance from the small herd in accepting the baby elephant as there was human intervention. The calf too refused to cooperate with us. We tried to provide milk to it but it refused,” the District Forest Officer (DFO), Gudalur Division, PK Dileep, said. 

Sans mother’s feed, the calf grew weak. The shed which was erected on Monday to give it some protection gave some relief to the baby elephant. “Calves of this stage take shelter under the mother’s belly,” he said. Since elephants don’t accept a calf when it has the smell of humans the department allowed just one person to take care of it. 

Four field staff were monitoring the calf from a distance. “Between 5 and 5.30 am, three elephants from the herd (that earlier refused to accept the baby) took the calf into the forest,” said Gudalur Ranger P Ganesan. 

Conservator Ramasubramanian said that the chances of a cow elephant abandoning its new born calf are rare. “It happens only when the calf is sick or is born premature. There are various factors that decide reunion as well. When the herd size is big and when there is drought the herd will not wait so long to reunite with a calf,” he said.