In a mission that lasted for about seven hours, forest officials in Bhavanisagar on Saturday reunited a one-year-old elephant calf with its mother.
The elephant calf was separated from its mother when they were on the way to Bhavanisagar dam river catchment area near Sathyamangalam in Erode district.
A herd of 30 wild elephants from Sirumugai forest range came to Bhavanisagar dam site area in search of food and water. The calf was part of this herd but accidently got separated from its mother on the way, officials said.
Farmers, who spotted the elephant calf, informed forest officials in Bhavanisagar. The officials reached the spot immediately and took care of it. “The elephant calf was fed Lactogen and glucose every 30 minutes. We also fed the animal coconut milk and boiled drinking water,” said district forest officer (DFO) K Rajkumar.
A team of forest officials and anti-poaching watchers led by DFO then initiated steps to reunite the calf with its mother. After seven hours of search operations, the team managed to spot the calf’s mother in the Bhavanisagar reserve forest area.
“We monitored the herd movement and the calf safely reunited with its mother,” the DFO said and added that anti-poaching watchers would monitor the calf’s movement for at least two days.