COIMBATORE: The efforts of the forest department personnel to reunite a male elephant calf at Sirumugai forest with the herd having its mother elephant failed on the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
Dozens of staff members from four forest ranges in Coimbatore as well as the neighbouring Nilgiris forest division who were engaged for the task could not find a herd with its mother elephant.
“Four teams with five members each trudged 10 kilometres each deep inside the forest in the daytime on Wednesday. We also used a drone to locate the mother elephant wherever the personnel were unable to reach, but were not able to trace the herd. The calf is being looked after at the Anti-Poaching Watchers (APW) camp at Ethirmoonchi,” said a forest department staff.
“We provided the baby elephant glucose and lactogen milk powder. It is also chewing grass that was sourced from the forest. It has started to graze on its own. The male calf is aged close to 10 months,” the official added.
A senior official of the Coimbatore forest division said they have decided to try again on Thursday as well and consider whether to shift the calf to the Theppakkadu or Kozhikamuthi elephant camp if the attempt to reunite it with mother elephant fails.
“The animal is healthy and is consuming grass and drinking well. The animal is inside the APW camp which is inside the forest,” said the official.