PALAKKAD: The six-month-old elephant that was brought to the care centre in Dhoni, around 15 kms from Palakkad town, after it was found in a debilitated condition at Muchikadavu, in Attappadi’s Kuthanadi, is recuperating well.
When TNIE visited the centre, the female calf was being fed a bottle of milk by a native of Topslip, Tamil Nadu. “She has been receptive to food and medicine,” said Shanthi.
Shanthi and her son Madhavan have been caring for injured and orphaned elephants, on the lines of Bomman and Bellie, the tribal couple of Mudumalai national park, who inspired the Oscar-winning documentary ‘Elephant Whisperers’.
“The female calf is adjusting to its new surroundings. It is very playful and responds to my calls,” says 45-year-old Shanthi. “Madhavan was part of the team that tamed PT 7, which was later christened Dhoni.
Traditionally, we are a family of mahouts. Another son, Kumar, is in Wayanad caring for the kumkis there. My husband Pazhanisamy and my third son Somu are engaged in taming wild elephants in Topslip.
"I married Pazhanisamy when I was 18, and since then I have been helping him tend to elephants,” she said.
“We are from Mudumalai, and since our home is on the forest fringe, we have got on well with wild elephants since childhood. Unless harmed, they mind their own business. Wild elephants are regular sightings near our home,” said Madhavan, who also has two sisters, Sukanya and Sugandhi.
“The baby elephant is not completely out of danger. Usually babies begin to eat hay or grass within six months. But she is yet to do so. Every alternative day we administer antibiotic injections. Bonding with a companion was a prime requisite and therefore we brought Shanthi over from Topslip. We are feeding it milk powder mixed with lactogen and food-grade coconut powder as supplements and vitamins,” said David Abraham, the forest veterinary surgeon who has been attending to the elephant ever since it was brought to the Dhoni centre.
“It has been nibbling on the grass but has not begun eating it. Its digestion has to pick up. It will be another two weeks before we can say that it has passed its critical phase,” added Abraham.