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| Baby elephant reunited with herd |
| After three days of being together, Kalinga's charm seemed to have worked. Patnaik though is still keeping his fingers crossed.
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| INDIA
, 18-June-2007
1:55:3 AM |
| It's all about a bond that stood the test of separation and love that proved stronger than suspicion.
For the first time ever a herd of wild elephants accepted a young calf 40 days after it was in the company of humans. An adult female elephant persuaded a junior member of the clan to rejoin the herd.
The seven-month-old female elephant Kalinga was separated from the herd on May 5 after it fell into a ditch near Kalinga Studio in Bhubaneswar.
Officials of the Chandka Wildlife sanctuary rescued it but failed to reunite it with the herd. Wild animals don't usually take back members of the herd once they have been touched by humans.
So forest officials had no choice but to take her to the Godibari elephant centre, treat her and let a mahout take care of her.
But Akshay Patnaik, head of the Chandka wildlife division refused to give up. On Tuesday, he tried again.
He released the baby near a waterhole popular with elephants this summer, hoping the elephants' natural affectionate nature would do the rest.
After three days of being together, Kalinga's charm seemed to have worked. Patnaik though is still keeping his fingers crossed.
''I think they have accepted the baby elephant but now it's only an experiment whether it will accept the herd or not and whether her feeding habit is restored or not. That's the main threat since it was sterilized and palatable milk.
We were feeding her every two hours with Lactogen so whether it will accept mother's milk now or not, that's the thing to be seen. Otherwise it will be separated again,'' said Akshay Patnaik, DFO, Chandka Wildlife Division.
Six tracker units are monitoring the herd. Initial reports by one group say the baby has started taking her mother's milk, a sign that the reunion may be for good.
Patnaik hopes Baby Kalinga will be part of the herd when they go into the dense forests at the start of the monsoons.
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