Baby elephant drowns in pond in Chhattisgarh's Korba

A one-month-old elephant calf drowned in a pond when it had gone to drink water with its herd in a forest of Chhattisgarh's Korba district on Saturday, a forest official said.

The incident took place in the early hours of the day at Kendai forest range, where a herd of 46 jumbos had been moving around, the official said.

"Last month, two calves were born in this herd. The group was in Kendai and forest personnel were tracking its movements till 3 am on Saturday and returned after the herd moved deep into the core forest," said Shama Farooqui, divisional forest officer (DFO) Katghora forest division.

However, the herd returned to the pond located close to a field in the early hours to drink water and one of the calves waded in too deep and drowned, the official said.

At around 5 am, when the forest staff again reached the spot, they spotted the carcass in the pond and managed to fish it out after chasing away the herd, she said.

With the latest incident, 13 elephants have died in the state due to various reasons, including electrocution, since June this year.

The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Surajpur, Raigarh, Jashpur and Koriya districts, is known for human-animal conflicts.