North Bank MVS Helps Forest Department Reunite Rescued Elephant Calf with Mother
The calf and its mother seen together in the distance after they were successfully reunited
Dejoo Tea Estate, Assam, August 22, 2016: Working with the North Bank unit of IFAW-WTI’s Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS), frontline staff of the Assam Forest Department rescued an Asian elephant calf at the Dejoo Tea Estate in North Lakhimpur on August 18 and reunited it with its mother shortly after.
The calf, a two-month-old female, was seen stuck in a trench at the tea estate in the morning, with its mother trying in vain to extricate it. Acting under the guidance of MVS veterinarians Dr Jahan Ahmed and Dr Rinku Gohain, forest guards and staff from the tea estate chased the mother to a nearby forest and helped the calf out of the trench with minimal human intervention. The calf was then taken to where the mother was. She emerged from the forest, examined the calf her trunk and they walked off into the tea garden together. They were seen again later in the day and the calf was suckling.
This is the second recent rescue and reunion assisted by the North Bank MVS team; as reported here earlier, a four- to six-month-old male calf had been reunited with its natal herd on June 28. Displaced calves account for a major percentage of admissions at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), IFAW-WTI and the Assam Forest Department’s wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility near Kaziranga National Park. In the event that the mother or natal herd cannot be located or does not accept the calf, it has to be hand-raised at the centre. Reuniting calves is the first and preferred step in such rescues.
