Calf disowned by jumbo mom dies

SNS, SILIGURI, 5 MAY 2023 : An elephant can; which foresters had recovered from Bamandangi near the Mechi river on the lndo-Nepal border near Siliguri on Thursday, died today.

Abandoned by its mother, the foresters had found the I5 - day-old male calf at Bamandangi and taken it to the Kalahari beat office under the Panighata forest range under the Kurseong forest division yesterday

"A herd of around 35 elephants has been moving in the Kalahari forest. The elephant calf got separated from its parents and it appears that the mother disowned it. The foresters found the calf at Bamandangi and brought it to t he beat office, where we took it under our care. Animal doctors treated the calf, and saline was administered, but it could not he saved. The calf died this morning," an official said.

Accoriding to senior forest officers, the calf had stomach ulcers in an advanced stage of infection.

"An elephant calf which was recovered yesterday along the Mechi river bed area died this morning. It had been suffering from stomach ulcer. Postmortem has been done," a forest official said.

"The elephant was dehydrated and sick. Efforts to reunite the calf with the herd did not yield results. If the calf carries human odour, its mother will never accept it back in the herd. However, we did not get the opportunity," another official said.

News reports, meanwhile, said that the herd of elephants, in search for the calf, had earlier yesterday attacked an Indian man at Mechinagar-4 on the Nepal side.

The reports said that the man who is into the scrap business had been going to Nepal from the Indian side when the jumbos attacked him. I le was admitted in the Naxalbari hospital near Siliguri for treatment.