PTR to adopt elephant calf abandoned by its mother in Bijnor

Pilibhit: A female elephant calf abandoned by her mother shortly after birth in Najibabad forest division of Bijnor district on Dec 2 will be adopted by Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR). To ensure the calf's safe relocation, the reserve's veterinary officer, Dr Daksh Gangwar, visited Barhapur forest range in Najibabad on Wednesday to assess her condition.

Preparations for the calf's transfer began after Uttar Pradesh's chief wildlife warden, Anuradh Vemuri, approved her shifting to the reserve. Two orphaned female elephant calves from Bijnor and Najibabad forest divisions have been adopted by Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in 2018 and 2023, respectively.

PTR DFO Manish Singh said, "The baby elephant will be kept at the Mala forest elephant camp, where four jumbos, relocated from Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve in the first week of Nov 2022 were lodged. As the distance between Najibabad and Pilibhit is considerably lesser in comparison to Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, the journey will preferably be better for the safety of the 15-day-old baby elephant, especially in this extreme cold. This is the key factor for keeping the orphaned calf at PTR."

The present case is a bit unusual as the mother refused to accept her calf despite sustained efforts by forest staff to reunite them.

Gangwar said, "The operation continued for five days, during which the mother elephant was found living alone in a small patch of forest after being separated from her herd. The calf was left just close to the mother, but to no avail. Elephants are otherwise highly possessive of their babies."

Bijnor DFO Abhinav Raj said, "The female calf, named Shakti, rolled and fell into a pit when her mother gave birth to her. The mother then moved away, leaving her baby in a perilous condition. As she was watched by the field forest staff, a rescue operation started immediately and the baby was retrieved. Now, she has been kept on a diet of milk and her health is being monitored."