A female wild elephant, aged 45-50, that was under treatment for the last two days died in a forest area at the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) near the Bannari – Bhavanisagar road here on Tuesday.
On the night of February 3, the elephant was found in a weak condition with her calves, a sub-adult male elephant and a two-month-old female baby elephant wandering near it. A team, led by S. Sadasivam, wildlife veterinarian of the STR, continued to provide treatment. While the sub-adult was guided back to the herd, the calf was rescued and was taken care of by the staff on Monday. Since the veterinarians concluded that the mother elephant would not survive, the Forest Department decided to reunite the calf with its herd and planned an operation.
Staff from Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), who were experienced in the operation, were roped in. At 8 p.m. on Monday, teams tracked the herd in the Bannari – Dhimbam forest stretch with the help of drones and night vision cameras and the calf was brought to the spot. The herd comprised a lactating elephant and it accepted the calf. Later, the herd along with the calf entered into deep forest.
K. Rajkumar, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, STR, told The Hindu, that at 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday, teams that were monitoring the movement of the herd, found the herd with a calf crossing the road near Bannari. He said staff continue to monitor the herd movement.
Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, in her social media post, said that the operation is the latest among multiple successful calf relocation attempts by the department and the first in Sathyamangalam landscape. She appreciated the entire team involved in the operation.
Meanwhile, the mother elephant died in the afternoon without responding to treatment. A postmortem was conducted in the evening and samples of vital organs were lifted for laboratory tests. Veterinarians said it died of liver related complications.
