Forest officials and employees manning the Chandka elephant sanctuary on the outskirts of Orissa capital Bhubaneswar have managed to reunite a seven-month-old baby elephant with its “family” after 41 days of hard and relentless efforts.
“The rarest of rare event”, as wildlife experts put it, took place on Saturday last.
The elephant calf’s story had begun in the first week of May when a herd of pachyderms strayed into the Kalinga Film Studio complex and adjoining campus of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) here from the nearby Chandka elephant sanctuary.
When the forest staff were driving the herd back into the sanctuary, the baby elephant slipped into a small well. It was subsequently rescued by the forest officials. They named the baby pachyderm as Kalinga as it was rescued from the premises of Kalinga Studio.
After its initial treatment, the officials of the Chandka wildlife division decided to make an attempt to reunite the calf with its family. And then began the hard and painstaking efforts. A breakable temporary enclosure was made inside the elephant sanctuary where the baby elephant was kept to draw the attention of herds passing by but in vain.
Finally on June 11, the officials decided to shift Kalinga to a place near a watch tower inside the elephant sanctuary which has a water point nearby frequented by several herds. There too success eluded the forest officials. In fact, on June 12 a herd managed to take Kalinga a few yards inside the wild but the baby elephant ran back to its enclosure triggering fear among the forest officials that Kalinga could never return to the wild again.
Miraculous
However, the miracle ultimately happened on Saturday when a herd of four elephants headed by a female pachyderm managed to win over Kalinga. It was perhaps the love and affection of the mother elephant that did the trick and the forest guards who had stationed themselves in the watch tower saw Kalinga slowly vanishing into the wild with the herd.
The wildlife experts have already described the event as a “milestone” in wildlife preservation efforts as wild elephants usually do not accept back members of their herd once they come in contact with human beings.
Though Kalinga has gone back to the wild, the forest and wildlife officials are still worried over the future of the baby elephant mainly because of its diet. The elephant calf had already developed a different eating habit and was being fed “lactogen” during its 41-day stay under the care of forest department employees.
“Now we are waiting with our fingers crossed hoping that Kalinga would be able to adjust to the life in the wild once again,” said an official of the Chandka wildlife division.