CHENNAI: Expressing concern over the fate of the elephant calf abandoned by its mother at Sirumugai range in Coimbatore forest division, the Madras High Court on Thursday directed authorities of the forest department to expedite the process to reunite the calf with a herd of elephants so that it can get back into the jungle.
The calf is currently being taken care of by a team of veterinarians, mahouts and kavadis, and is being provided with food, particularly liquid food to beat the summer heat.
“How long will you take attempts to reunite with a herd? You have to expedite the process as per the procedures. Continued separation and the prevailing hot weather condition may lead to its death,” said a special bench of justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy dealing with forest-related matters.
Special government pleader T Seenivasan, representing the forest department, submitted that attempts were made to reunite the calf with herds of elephants but could not succeed.
Coimbatore District Forest Officer Venkatesh Prabhu informed the high court that the calf was found abandoned in the woods on April 26 in the Sirumugai range. A team of veterinarians, mahouts and kavadis was formed to take care of it.
“We are strictly following the standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling the abandoned calf. We have tried to reunite it with five herds but could not do so,” he told the court, adding that a suitable herd with two or three lactating elephants have to be found to reunite because the calf is just three months old.
He informed that attempts will be made till Friday to rewild and reunite the calf. If it does not yield the desired results, further action will be taken as per the SOP.
Animal welfare activist S Muralidharan submitted that the calf would endure a lot of stress due to separation even though the team is providing the necessary care, and the attempts to reunite with herds cannot go endlessly.
