Kaziranga, August 6, 2013: Quick and proactive action by the Assam Forest Department officials and local people saved an elephant calf from being displaced from its natal herd in Golaghat district. The calf stuck in a tea garden ditch was immediately rescued and reunited with its natal herd.

The incident occurred last week. The month-old male calf fell into a ditch in the Numalighur Tea Estate, as its herd comprising 38 individuals were crossing through the garden.

Rajib Hazarika, Assistant Manager of Numalighur Tea Estate informed the local Forest Beat office, who in-turn alerted the IFAW-WTI team at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) to save the elephant calf.

File photo: A calf being guided towards its herd in a tea estate in August 2012. Photo credit: Abhijit Bhawa/WTI

“I was in the tea garden and monitoring the plucking that day," recalled Hazarika. "Suddenly I heard two elephants were shouting and a big herd was waiting quite far. I saw an elephant calf was stuck inside the drain near section 9 of our garden. I immediately alerted the authorities and instructed the tea pluckers to go to a safe distance."

A team of forest guards and officials led by Pratap Saikia, the Beat officer of Numalighur Beat under Golaghat Territorial Division rushed to the spot.

Saikia said, “As we reached the spot, we saw that the elephant calf was just inside the drain and unable to move. The herd was waiting at a distance and shouting. To disperse the herd, we used whistles, fire crackers and fired one round of bullet in the air.”

The herd left the site and waited at a distance in the garden. Wasting no time, despite the risk of the herd returning, the forest guards and officials immediately lifted the elephant calf from the channel.

The herd continued waiting. After examining the calf for injuries, and on finding none, the team left the calf where the herd could see it. They kept a watch on the action of the herd.

After a while, the mother along with a few other elephants approached the calf. They reportedly sniffed the calf, seemingly tried to reassure the young one, and returned. A while later, the entire herd approached the calf, and took it along.

“Elephants pass through our garden regularly and we consider this as normal as our garden is located next to a reserve forest. There is a standby instruction in the garden to record any kind of elephant movement and not to disturb them unless they charge. That nearest forest office was informed about the incident immediately, and we could save the calf. I was personally present at the location to take a stock of the situation,” said Vikas Joshi, General Manager, Jorehaut Tea Limited, who is also a passionate naturalist, who has reportedly helped in elephant calf rescues in the past.

File Photo: A calf is helped out of a ditch and reunited with its mother (right) in Assam in August 2011. Photo credit: Sashanka Barbaruah/IFAW-WTI

Dr Rathin Barman, Deputy Director, WTI and CWRC-in-charge, said, "This is absolutely wonderful. Many elephant calves have been displaced unnecessarily and this is one of those rare instances where this was effectively avoided by prompt action of the authorities and people present there; our heartiest congratulations to the team for saving this young elephant calf."

Every time a young animal is found alone, CWRC promotes reunion with their mothers or groups as the case might be, as the primary response. Only when reunion is unsuccessful is the individual admitted to CWRC for hand-rearing and long-term rehabilitation. 

Till date, IFAW-WTI staff from CWRC has assisted the Assam Forest Department in reuniting 14 elephant calves and their natal herds. And seven permanently displaced calves have been hand-reared and released the wild. Currently, six elephant calves are being hand-reared at CWRC for rehabilitation.