COIMBATORE: A photograph of a rescued calf elephant taking a nap with its mother on a rock near the tea plantation at Pannimedu estate near Valparai went viral on social media. Forest department officials said the calf had mingled with the mother and moved along with the herd on December 29, when it was reunited by ATR staff. The herd entered Vazhachal forest in Kerala on Tuesday evening.
Supriya Sahu. Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forest, Tamil Nadu shared the photograph on X (formerly Twitter) taken by an anti-poaching watcher using a drone-mounted camera.
A Manikandan, forest range officer, Manomboly, said “We are profiling each and every elephant which is using the Valparai plateau and it helped us in reuniting the calf with the mother within five hours of them getting separated. We suspect the calf lost its way as it could not keep pace with the herd.”
Ganesh Raghunathan, a senior programme manager of Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), which assists the Tamil Nadu forest department to mitigate human elephant conflict in Valparai plateau, told TNIE, “Elephants start using the plateau towards the end of monsoon season. There will be an increase in elephant activity in the region from September to March after which they move to the protected areas. We have noticed December to February is also the time most human deaths are reported from the plateau. This is a time when people have to be cautious while stepping out after dark.”
“This herd is one among the many whose movement we have been monitoring for over a decade. Usually we see elephants take short naps while standing upright. Elephants take longer naps lying down mostly when they are not disturbed and feel safe,” said Ganesh.
Meanwhile, a two-week-old elephant calf that was allegedly a premature and had some birth defects was attacked by a leopard and was found injured by the forest staff at Attamalai forest in Madukkarai forest range, Coimbatore forest division. Although treatment was given by a veterinarian, the animal did not respond and died on Wednesday.