ANGUL: The one-month-old elephant calf, separated from its herd in the Ganthigadia forest two days back and under the care of the Forest department, has temporarily been kept in Balaram Prasad forest beat house.
A panel of veterinary doctors are taking its care since it has been under the custody of the Forest department. Plans are underway to nurse the calf back to health before relocating it to the Kapilash Rescue Centre. Though the officials tried to reintegrate the calf with the herd, they were unsuccessful.
According to sources, a herd of about 30 elephants including the calf, was seen in Ganthigadia forest for last some days. Incidentally on Thursday, the calf got separated from the herd and came to Ganthigadia village.
As soon as villagers informed forest officials, Angul DFO Vivek Kumar and Talcher ranger Sukanti Dei rushed to spot and tried to push the calf back into the jungle. But the herd reportedly did not accept the calf, forest officials stated.
“We were forced to bring it to the Balaram Prasad beat house on Friday and administered medicines. We are waiting for the calf to recover after which we plan to shift it to Kapilash Rescue Centre,” said ranger Sukanti.