Unusual abandonment of traumatized elephant calf

3 July, 2008

HOME

Unusual abandonment of traumatized elephant calf

Siliguri, July 3:

Named Ganeshi, the seven-eight month-old female elephant calf rescued from Bengdubi forest twice — first on June 26 and again on June 30 — is recuperating in Gorumara National Park.

The pachyderm, which was weak and bruised when it was brought to the park, is being attended on by mahouts, forest officers and vets at the pilkhana (the camp for pet elephants).

The guards suspect that Ganeshi is the calf of the adult female elephant that had fallen to bullets on the Mechi river along the India-Nepal border. The little one was first spotted in a cornfield in Tarabari close to Bagdogra on June 26, lagging behind a group of elephants which had halted in the Kalabari forest for over a week. The herd was driven into Bamanpokhri by the foresters and mahouts who had employed trained elephants to prevent the pachyderms from entering Nepal.

“We cannot comment officially on the matter, but what could be gauged from certain facts and observations is that the female elephant killed in the Mechi was the mother of Ganeshi,” said a guard.

The forester, who has been part of many teams that have stopped elephants from moving to the neighbouring country, arrived at the conclusion after watching Ganeshi’s movements and hearing the mahouts’ version.

“First of all, the dead elephant was a lactating one. Secondly, the calf, when rescued for the first time, was suffering from dehydration and not fed for many hours, despite the fact that there were many other lactating elephants in the herd,” the guard said.

According to him, when the calf was rejoined with the herd at Bengdubi on June 26, it was constantly groaning. “The mahouts, who were in the team that had reunited the animal with the herd, told us that the cry sounded like that of a calf which had lost its mother.”

Another striking factor, foresters said, was that although there were other calves in the herd, the elephants crossed the Balasone river, abandoning the straggling Ganeshi. “If the elephants could cross the river along with other calves, why was Ganeshi left alone?”

Further, the foresters did not hear any elephant trumpeting as they do when a mother loses its calf. “All these suggest that Ganeshi was the calf of the dead elephant,” the guard said.

The forester added that when Ganeshi was found isolated for the second time at Bengdubi and the guards tried to confine it, the animal did not show as much resistance as it had on June 26.
“We could hold her easily and she took four litres of saline liquid at one go, indicating her appetite,” a forester said.

Tapas Das, the divisional forest officer (wildlife-2), said the calf was out of danger and being provided with food and water. “The animal seems to have some vision problems. Ganeshi can, however, recover as she grows up.”