A one-and-half-month-old elephant calf, abandoned by its mother a week back in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district, found a new shelter at the city’s Alipore Zoo on Tuesday.
According to the State’s Forest Department officials, a herd of 60 to 70 tuskers had entered the Dantan region of the district by crossing over the Subarnarekha river from Orissa.
The herd started destroying crops in nearby villages and was chased away by the villagers. The calf, however, was left behind.
“We rescued the calf three days back. It was weak and also had an injury on its hind leg. We tried re-uniting it with the particular herd twice but did not succeed,” Vinod Kumar Yadav, Conservator of Forests (Western Circle), told The Hindu on Tuesday.
Mr. Yadav explained that often weak and injured calves were abandoned by herds, who refuse to take them back after they came in contact with humans.
The calf — christened Subarna by the villagers who informed the Forest Department about it — was taken to the Belda range office early on Monday and shifted to the Alipore Zoo on Tuesday.
“Ideally, in such cases the elephants are sent to the rehabilitation centres at the Jalpdapara and Gorumara sanctuaries in north Bengal. But since this calf was too young and weak, we decided to keep it at the Alipore Zoo for now,” Mr. Yadav said.
The zoo currently houses three adult elephants. Zoo Director Raju Das said that four doctors were looking after the calf round-the-clock and it was being fed with dietary supplements in the absence of mother’s milk.
“Its condition is stable now and the injury too will heal fast. The calf seems to be in a good spirit,” Mr. Das said.
