Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): An abandoned elephant calf of around two months old was rescued by a patrolling team of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in the dawn hours on Friday.
The baby elephant was too weak even to walk but it responded positively to the treatment provided by the wildlife doctors. The calf was later introduced to a female elephant which accepted it without any hesitation and immediately started feeding it.
The female elephant had recently lost its calf and was brought from Katni to Bandhavgarh. The Bandhavgarh officials are now planning to identify the herd of the abandoned elephant calf to reunite it with its mother.
Interacting with the Free Press, deputy director of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Prakash Kumar Verma said the patrolling team spotted the abandoned elephant calf in the buffer range of Panpatha - close to Shahdol area- around 4.30 am.
The elephant calf was too weak to even walk. “I immediately dispatched the forest employees to the spot and I myself rushed there. The cub is around two months old. It seems that its herd walked ahead leaving it behind. At the time it was rescued, the elephant calf was not well and didn’t have enough warmth in the body.
During treatment, wildlife doctors gave required warmth to the rescued elephant calf and even gave milk to it. The cub is too small to consume anything other than the milk,” the official said. In the coming days, efforts will be made to locate and reunite the calf with its biological mother elephant, he added.
