Kaziranga, 20 December 2019: Responding to a call from the Karbi Anglong forest division, the IFAW-WTI team of veterinarians and animal keepers rescued and admitted an abandoned elephant calf at the wildlife rescue centre in Kaziranga.

Led by veterinarian Dr Panjit Basumatary from the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), the team braved the ongoing civil disturbances on the highways and found the female elephant calf alone in a sugarcane field around Nihang Tokbi village in the Kheroni Range of Karbi Anglong Forest Division last week. Three attempts at reuniting the year-old calf with her natal herd had failed from 2 to 11 December and the team decided to move the calf for rehabilitation to CWRC.

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As large scale civil unrest and violent protests erupted across Assam due to the Citizen’s Amendment Act, the CWRC team had to travel back to the rescue centre through the affected route with road blocks, peoples’ protest and demonstrations and most of all, a ban on data services and internet, thus affecting communication. After successful tranquilization, the team decided to move out of the area with the rescued elephant calf in the evening to ensure safety.

The rescue vehicle was stopped by protestors at several points along the route and the team managed to talk their way through but for two locations in Nagaon and Diring Charali, where mobs attacked the vehicle with an intention to set it ablaze. With a damaged vehicle carrying an elephant calf and a smashed windshield, the dedicated team of Raju Kutum, the MVS driver cum keeper, Lakhiram Das, animal keeper and Dr Panjit Basumatary somehow managed to reach CWRC on the night of 11 December.

Following the protocol, the calf was kept under observation in the elephant nursery for a week where she responded to milk feeding, after which she started interacting with the seven elephant calves already undergoing various stages of rehabilitation. Having spent a night socialising with the seven calves, the new comer has found comfort in the company of Murphulani, the matriarch leader who is seen showering attention and care on the Karbi calf.

The CWRC team is hopeful that the new calf will bond with the existing seven-member family and like their predecessors, go back to the wild.