Elephant calf found ill and abandoned in BTR; forest dept takes it under its care

Umaria: An elephant calf was found ill and abandoned by its herd in the buffer zone of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, officials said.

The forest authorities rescued the elephant calf and took it under their care.

The BTR has been in the news after 10 elephants died there in quick succession in the last three days of October.

"An elephant calf, aged around three months, was found abandoned by its herd. We got the information around 4.30 am today. Our ground duty staff rushed to Panpatha area and brought the sick baby tusker to Tala rescue centre," BTR director Anupam Sahay told PTI over phone.

The calf was found to be weak, and it appears that tit had not eaten for the past few days, he said.

Elephants disown a very weak or sick member of their herd if they think that the particular individual's chances of survival in the wild are bleak, he added.

"We are happy that the baby elephant, most probably female, has responded fast to our care. We have given an energy booster, milk and glucose drip to it," Sahay said.

When asked, he said that the calf does not belong to the group of three elephants who survived after 10 of the 13-member herd died last week.

On October 29, four wild elephants were found dead in Sankhani and Bakeli under the Khalil range of the BTR, while four died on October 30 and two on October 31.