Digboi (Assam): The thirty-hour ordeal of an Asian elephant calf trapped in a trench in a tea estate in eastern Assam ended on a happy note as rescuers successfully reunited it with its mother yesterday.

Two captive elephants were deployed to keep the mother away from the rescue site as the Assam Forest Department officials of Digboi division and IFAW-WTI team attempted to help the calf out.

“The two month old male calf must have fallen in the trench when its herd was crossing the Bogapani tea estate near Digboi on Tuesday night. He was struggling to come out of it; even the mother made several attempts to rescue the calf,” said Siva Kumar, DFO Digboi. “The mother was quite unyielding, which was good for the calf, but made it difficult for us to carry out the rescue. We darted her to moderately sedate her, but she remained close to the calf, and it grew dark, so we could not complete the rescue operation on Wednesday.”

The operation was resumed early yesterday. The mother was not around and the calf was hurriedly removed from the trench. The rescuers feared that the mother had left the calf and moved on. But she was sighted approaching the site soon after the calf was freed.

The calf was walked to an open area towards its mother and released.

“The calf was unsteady and as it headed to its mother, it fell into a low-lying area. This time the mother pulled the calf out! She began feeding it and soon the mother and the calf walked back towards the forest,” said Dr Abhijit Bhawal, IFAW-WTI veterinarian, who assisted in the rescue. “This is perhaps the first recorded reunion of an elephant calf separated from its herd from this area. We have attended to several cases involving displaced elephant calves earlier too, but these calves had to be admitted to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga,” he added.

In another recent instance, a calf that was found alone in Nagaon district of the state, was admitted to the IFAW-WTI run CWRC, after reunion attempts proved unsuccessful. “Generally, when these calves are found alone, local people in their goodwill attempt to rescue or touch the calf seeking blessings, as elephant is considered an embodiment of Lord Ganesha. In that case, the people had applied mustard oil and vermillion on the calf out of devotion. The calf was introduced to a herd that was nearby (which may or may not have been its natal herd), but it was abandoned and left behind,” said Dr Rathin Barman, Coordinator, WTI.

The calf rescued from Nagaon is currently being hand-raised at CWRC along with ten other elephant calves rescued from various parts of Assam. Few of the older calves will be relocated to Manas National Park early next year; they will undergo a prolonged acclimatisation in the wild for reintegration with wild herds.

Five elephant calves hand-raised at CWRC have already been released in Manas NP, as part of this Elephant Reintegration Project.