Kaziranga, October 3, 2014: The tempo of rescuing elephant calves seems unabated with the arrival of yet another male calf at the IFAW-WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC).
The nearly two months old calf was rescued by the Assam Forest Department the previous morning with the support of Rajib Rudra Tarian, a known environmentalist and Assistant Professor of Zoology at Digboi College, Tinsukia.

Dilip Phukan, the forest staff who alerted the forest division office after hearing the trumpeting of the calf since Wednesday night (1st October 2014) assumed that the calf was with a herd.
However, early next morning, when the forest team of Charaipung Range along with villagers searched the area, they found the solitary calf in the nearby paddy field, nearly a kilometer away from the forest range office.

The new elephant calf admitted at the Centre. Photo: Dr Panjit Basumatary / IFAW-WTI

The forest team searched for the herd but not a single impression of any elephant was found in the area of Charaipung Reserve Forest.
It was thus assumed that somehow the calf had strayed from the herd and the situation demanded to rescue him. The calf was dehydrated and trumpeting, seemingly of hunger. The forest department team rescued the calf and brought him to Charaipung Range Office for further care.

Accordingly, the Charaipung Division authority contacted Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) for further assistance and following the advice of the CWRC team, the calf was shifted to IFAW-WTI animal care centre at Kaziranga National Park after a nine hour journey late Thursday evening.

Dr. Panjit Basumatary and Dr. Samshul Ali attended to the calf. The clinical examination and body morphometery was done. Rehydration fluid and anti-stress supplements were given. The calf is healthy and no sign of abnormality was found. The calf is being monitored by Dr. Panjit Basumatary at CWRC.

Animal keeper Prasanta Das assuming his role of the calf’s new mother as he gives him the specially curated feed. Photo: Dr Panjit Basumatary / IFAW-WTI