THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 17-day-old elephant calf that was abandoned by its herd shortly after birth died on Sunday morning on the way to the Kottur Elephant Rehabilitation Centre from Konni.
Dr Shyam Chandran, assistant forest officer, Konni, told TNIE that postmortem examination revealed the calf, a male, had congenital abnormalities due to which its mother and herd abandoned him.
The forest department had decided to shift the calf after seeing a slight improvement to his health. With the Nava Kerala Sadas coming up, the officials were keen on shifting the calf to the rehabilitation centre. They said they had been looking after it round the clock.
“We tried our best to help the calf regain its health. The glucose and lactogen we were giving him were not getting digested, leading to acute diarrhoea. He breathed his last just 5km away from Kottur. The autopsy revealed its liver had enlarged, causing death. There was no way we could save it with this condition,” Dr Shyam said.
The calf had been found by workers at Kuruppanmoozhy rubber plantation under the Kanamala forest station shortly after its birth on November 30.