COIMBATORE: A three-month-old elephant calf that was wandering around its sick mother at the foothills of Maruthamalai for the last two days, left its mother and joined its sibling and went into the forest on Saturday morning.
Forest officials said that the mother elephant’s health is improving after being treated by two veterinarians. Since Thursday morning, the calf went into the forest after its sibling interacted with it and the mother elephant. The brother elephant also tried feeding its mother sugarcane. Later, the brother elephant took the calf into the forest and it has been roaming inside the forest. We are monitoring its movement using a drone and we have also taken pictures of it. However, the calf was monitored by the forest department only for a few hours as it went deep inside the forest. A forest department official said, “We are tracing the calf since it only drinks milk and we expect it to trace its mother as it would start feeling hungry. There is another chance of the young elephant abandoning the calf. Hence, we are trying to trace the calf and bring it back safely to the mother.”
Speaking about the mother elephant’s health, the official said, “The mother elephant has consumed around 150 kg of fodder like maize, tamarind and banyan tree leaves on Friday and it had consumed close to 100 kg of fodder. Later, on Sunday we will completely release the belt and allow her to walk.”