Dr Panjit Basumatary is elated. He has every reason to be. A rhino calf found in the backyard of a house, attacked by a tiger, recovers from his wounds and walks into the open for the first time. IFAW-WTI veterinarian, Dr Panjit Basumatary, recounts his experience of saving this baby rhino.

The rhino calf exploring the area in CWRC.

I am a happy man! The rhino calf that we saved on November 2014, took his first baby steps in the open, to explore his paddock at CWRC today.

Found injured in the backyard of a house, the three-month-old rhino calf was brought to CWRC in a critical state. The little one had several injuries inflicted by a tiger with a major injury in his left foreleg and pus oozing from a swelling at the base of its horn.

Yes, this amazing story of recovery is as much about our own pride as that of Assam- the great Indian one horned rhinoceros.

The calf being fed milk at CWRC.

The IFAW-WTI run facility, the Centre of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) takes pride in hand raising orphans and displaced wildlife. In the recent past, five rhino calves have been successfully released back to the wild in two popular UNESCO World Heritage Sites of India –Kaziranga and Manas National Parks. The success of rhino reintegration programme added a new feather in the cap as we saw three of the female rhinos released at Manas give birth to young ones.

Reminiscing back to last November, I attended this call on a critically injured male rhino calf attacked by tiger found in the backyard of a house at Japori village on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park. Our IFAW-WTI CWRC-MVS team rushed to the spot and immediately shifted the calf for treatment to CWRC on November 24, 2014.

The calf had several injuries, but a major one in his left foreleg and base of horn that had pus and was swollen was what got us worried. We found the bone was broken in three pieces but it was not easy to sedate and operate the badly afflicted carpal joint.

The best option was to follow a long-term course of medication, dressing and healing. On the long road to recovery, our animal keeper, Prasanta Das, would assiduously clean the wounds and treat the calf as a foster mother would. In due course, three splinters of the broken bone gradually came out of the calf’s pelvic joint and the wounds healed without any major surgical intervention.

The calf enjoying the mud bath at CWRC

We are all happy to see his slow but steady recovery from the day he was admitted to CWRC. After losing the offending splinters his reaction was priceless, as if he got a new life!

We introduced him to the paddock with some apprehension, to see how he moves and uses his healed limb. All our fears were unfounded when we saw how happily the animal started exploring the open surroundings for the first time and even running around in the paddock. There were broad smiles on all faces that were engaged for the last seven months to see this day.

All credit goes to the team of veterinarians led by Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury, Regional Head & Head vet of IFAW-WTI, and the most careful and responsible animal keepers of CWRC who are the real heroes of this successful recovery of the most adorable rhino calf of the centre.

My days and nights with the baby rhino to monitor his healing wounds, treatment and most important part of introducing him to the paddock to use his feet were a challenge. Today, being a veterinarian of CWRC, I am happy to see the calf run on grass and wallow in the water body.

I look forward to the day when we will introduce him from the paddock to a larger boma for his hand raising and well being. When this one goes back to the wild, I will be a very happy man indeed.