KAZIRANGA: A four-month-old female elephant calf has been rescued by forest guards from the forests of the Karbi Anglong district in Assam and is now being treated at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation(CWRC) here.This raises the number of calves at the centre to three. Additionally, two other calves in the states of Assam and Uttaranchal are also being looked after by the Wildlife Trust of India’s(WTI) veterinarians. The CWRC is a joint effort of the WTI and the Assam Forest Department, and operates with the support of WTI’s partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
On New Year’s Day, an elephant calf was spotted roaming alone near a forest camp at Borlonpher under Karbi Anglong West Forest Division. The forest staff posted there took care of the calf, and tried to locate the natal herd the next day. They did sight a herd, and left the calf nearby, but were not sure if the calf belonged to it.
The following day, the forest guards were surprised to find the calf near the camp once again. They felt the calf was weak, and was badly in need of food and shelter. They immediately contacted the divisional office and asked for their advice. Officials at the divisional office decided to hand it over to the CWRC for treatment and rehabilitation. They directed the camp personnel to keep looking for the natal herd. The next three days of frantic searches for the natal herd paid no dividend.
Since the Borlonpher area is located deep inside hilly forests, there was some delay in being able to communicate with the CWRC, about 150km away. The calf could be handed over to the care of the CWRC Centre Manager, Rathin Barman, only on the evening of January 9, 2003.
According to CWRC sources, the calf became dehydrated when it was abandoned by its mother. It was administered a rehydration solution at CWRC immediately on its arrival and is still being fed diluted milk powder every two hours. Since the fat percentage in elephant milk is very low, care is being taken to ensure the quality of the milk being fed to the calf. The Karbi Anglong Conservator of Forests has visited the CWRC to ascertain the well-being of the calf for himself.
The centre veterinarian, Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, and the animal keepers are experienced in handrearing elephant calves. Two elephant calves have been brought up by the CWRC in the last two years. One has been handreared from the time it was 10-days-old. It is now a year and half in age. The other one, brought to the CWRC at the age of five months, is now 26 months old. Both these two calves are male. With the arrival of this female elephant calf, the chances of forming a herd and reintroducing these animals to the wild, at a later date, have become brighter.
