MADIKERI: A rescued elephant calf was killed while being united with its mother in 7th Hoskote near Kushalnagar. During late night hours on Monday, a wild elephant was in labour and gave birth to a calf inside water stream in a private estate.
The calf was in the water stream for a prolonged period and when the residents observed this, they alerted the Kushalnagar division forest department staff.
Kushalnagar RFO Annaya Kumar alongside other staff visited the spot and observed that the calf was in danger as it was inside the water for too long. Following this, the mother elephant was chased away by the forest department and the calf was lifted from the water stream during morning hours on Tuesday.
The calf was then kept inside the forest area and the mother elephant traced the smell and returned to the calf.
“The mother elephant came near the calf alongside a herd of three young elephants. It tried to lift the calf once. The calf was tired and when it did not move, the mother elephant threw away the calf back into the water stream,” shared Annaya.
He analyzed that the herd did not have a matriarch elephant and was a herd of young elephants among which might have been a first-time mother.
The post mortem of the calf was conducted and it was later cremated inside the forest.