Locals in tears as rescued elephant dies

HASSAN: Locals and forest department officials were left in tears after the
elephant they had rescued following a 36-hour operation from a marsh in

Kadagaravalli village, Hassan district, died in the wee hours of Thursday.

The elephant, a cow, had got stuck in a marsh. In the bargain it suffered a
leg fracture. Its calf had refused to leave its side, even during the rescue
operation.

On Friday too, locals and forest department officials had a hard time
separating the calf from its mother. The little one kept nudging the body of
its mother from all sides, trying to awaken it, while trumpeting loudly. It
refused to allow officials to take its mother away for an autopsy.

Two tuskers were pressed into service and locals and officials eventually
separated the two. By then, everyone, including the officials, was in tears. Officials say the calf will be taken to the elephant camp in Sakrebail, Shivamogga where it will be rehabilitated. M Shivaram Babu, Hassan DCF, said the elephant, aged around 30, died at around 3am on Thursday. Babu said staff and rescue workers had gone through a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

“Two days ago we were thrilled that we were able to unite the mother and calf,” he said. “Today we had to forcibly separate the two. It has been tough. It seemed fine except for the fracture to its foreleg when we rescued it on Wednesday. Initially, findings of the postmortem showed it had suffered internal injuries and gangrene had spread through the body resulting in death.”

He said the calf, a male, is active although he refuses to get into the truck. “We had two tuskers at the spot on Thursday and we will bring in another on Friday and try and shift him. He has been eating banana leaves,” Babu said.

As the news of the death spread, hundreds of locals including MLA HK Kumaraswamy arrived at the spot. Ramesh, a local resident, said he never seen such an emotional scene. “I also cried. All the other officials too,” he said. "The calf had to be tied up while officials took the body of its mother away for the autopsy.”

DN Nagaraj, a veterinarian, said the calf will be psychological disturbed. “It is better to take the calf to an elephant camp where it can mingle with other calves. If a cow shows motherly affection, it will be happier. The death of the adult elephant was really surprising since it was feeding normally. It gave us hope that it would survive.”

KV Madan, veterinarian surgeon, said the calf is around six months old. “It has started eating grass, but it requires milk.

Generally calves stay with their mother for up to two years,” he said.

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