Elephant calf dies in Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary

Pakhui, July 24, 2002: A three-month-old elephant calf has died in the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh. The calf, which had been badly lacerated by some carnivore, was rescued by a forest guard from a remote part of the sanctuary about a week back.

The calf was attended to by Dr NVK Ashraf, Wildlife Trust of India's Wild Rescue team who happened to be visiting the region. Dr Ashraf crossed the river on an elephant from Seijosa and treated the greviously injured calf deep inside the sanctuary.

The calf could not be brought back to Seijosa since it could only have been carried in a sling between two elephants, and such a possibility had to be ruled out because the river was in spate. One of the mahouts even slipped and was almost washed away by the swirling waters.

Despite Dr Ashraf's all-out efforts the calf could not be saved; it succumbed to its wounds.

This is the second known death of an elephant calf in a span of about 10 days. The one-month-old calf rescued from an irrigation canal by wildlife personnel in the Haridwar forest division died in captivity in Rajaji National Park last week. Christened Ganga, the female calf had been pulled out of the canal by staff of the division on July 4, 2002.

The calf was said to have been suffering from diarrhoea, and it is possible that it could have developed septicaemia. Ganga had suffered multiple injuries, most likely when it fell into the canal. The most serious of them all was an infection in the front foot pad. There was abscess in the umbilical cord area which had been subsequently been infected by maggots. There were also lacerations at the base of her trunk.