Kaziranga: The number of elephant calves at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) increased to eight with the rescue of a four month old female elephant calf from Rupajuli Tea Estate near Tezpur . The calf was found apparently sick in the garden by the assistant manager of the tea estate, Mr. Shankar Mitra on December 7^th .

As the CWRC team was preparing to leave for Tezpur after getting a call from Shankar Mitra news came the forest staff saying that they were trying to put the calf back with its natal herd.

“After they failed in their mission to unite the calf with its natal herd they took it to the DFO’s office,” said Regional Manager, North east, Dr. Murali Pai.

“On reaching the spot we found it tied to a tree. It had some external injuries,” recounted Dr. Pai. After Dr. Thiru Murugan, newly appointed vet for MVS-Meghlaya, applied first aid to the calf, the little elephant was put into the rescue van and it reached CWRC by 6.30 pm.

The next morning i/v fluids were administered to the calf to control dehydration. The warm blankets and the heater worked like a charm and the calf is doing much better now.

The rapid increase in the number of elephants to eight at CWRC has not only led to a space crunch but also a major financial crunch in terms of food. The Elephant food bill itself is around Rs 50,000 (app $ 1600) per month.

Two months ago another female elephant calf was rescued by Mr Mitra and his wife Tanuka in this area. The calf was trapped in an awkward position in a ditch inside the garden. As it was suffering from a nasty trunk injury it was brought to CWRC. The calf has adjusted well and is doing fine now.

CWRC is a systematic and scientific initiative to deal with wild animals in distress where immediate human intervention is required for their survival. Situated in Kaziranga National Park , Assam ,it was founded by the Assam Forest Department and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with support from WTI’s partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).