The Hindu : National : Calf elephant saved

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Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

National

National

Calf elephant saved

Marcus Dam

Herd abandons it in pit

KOLKATA: Two days after it fell into a 20-foot pit beside a paddy field in the Jhalda area of West Bengal's Purulia district, an elephant calf, barely a year old, was rescued by wildlife officials on Saturday night. Dehydrated and debilitated, it is now in a wildlife rescue centre at Surulia, 5 km away, awaiting a truck journey to a camp run by the Forest Department. Subrata Pal Chowdhury, Technical Assistant (Wildlife) led the operation.

A village resident who had ventured close to the pit was killed by the calf's mother. After a futile attempt to retrieve the calf, it rejoined the herd of about 15 elephants that eventually melted into the forest.

The local people were driving the herd towards the paddy fields when the calf had the fall. A 20-foot sloping trench, one end nearly 10 feet deep, was dug to facilitate any renewed rescue attempt by the mother.

But it did not return: the herd had clearly abandoned the calf. "Then we stepped in and rescued the calf, hauling it out with ropes," Mr. Pal Chowdhury said.

The migrant herds have a known movement pattern. The herd to which the calf belonged was one of two herds that have been coming to the region from the Jharkhand forests during the crop season.

A larger herd of 60 has moved into the plains of south Bengal from the Dolma forest across the State's border. It will be in the forests of Midnapore and Bankura districts for the next few months before going home.

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