Thirty six hours after an elephant calf kept forest officials away from approaching its dead mother, they finally managed to wean it away by offering it some food and then did the post mortem of the pachyderm.
The carcass of the ailing 30-year old elephant was found in the area early yesterday, with the calf moving around it. Though forest officials separated them for a while, the calf again returned to its mother in its attempt to wake it up.
The exercise continued till this morning, police said.
A kumki (trained elephant) was brought to take the calf away, but it started playing with the calf, they said.
As a last resort, officials kept banana, sugarcane and jackfruit at some distance from the carcass to wean away the calf. While it was busy eating them, the post mortem was done at around one PM, they said.
Internal injury and resultant bleeding due to a fall and inability to consume food was said to be the reason for the death.
The carcass was buried at the spot.