An elephant calf that lost its mother — and its way — rescued after miraculous trek of 70-80 km through tiger territory

The wildlife department, already under scanner over the deaths, pressed the panic button, and soon realised this was the missing survivor of the ill-fated herd that lost 10 members after consuming kodo millets infected by a fungus.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) L Krishnamoorthy told The Indian Express, “This calf belonged to the herd. In total, four calfs died in this tragedy. This one and another calf aged around  3-4 years, whose gender we don’t know, survived, apart from an adult elephant. We mobilised our entire team to rescue the calf.”

A team, including local veterinarians and darting experts, were called in. They rode on four adult elephants, which were brought in from Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves.

The monitoring teams tracked down the calf, which had by now travelled around 70-80 kilometres from Katni to Bandhavgarh on its own, and managed to feed it grass, bamboo shoots and water.

Its journey was nothing short of a miracle. The calf had travelled in unfamiliar terrain infested with tigers until it reached the banks of the Chhoti Mahanadi river in Guda village, Katni district.

Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said, “It was crucial to track down this baby elephant. Around two years ago, tigers had killed a calf, and there are a lot of tigers roaming around in this area. Elephant calfs are greatly dependent on their mother and other caring herd members for their survival and learning.”

Overall, it took a team of 100 forest department personnel to carry out the rescue operation. “These operations are challenging and utmost care has to be taken. We can’t predict the animal’s behaviour and there are always complications with darting an animal. This calf was under extreme stress and we had to be very sensitive,” Krishnamoorthy said.

While the four trained elephants helped guide and calm the calf during the rescue, wildlife officials were careful to use a very small dose to sedate the animal. It was brought back to a holding area that has minimal human presence.

Veterinarians from Karnataka have now been called in to guide the Madhya Pradesh wildlife department. The department has also been studying standard operating procedures from other states, such as the 2023 SOP compiled by the Tamil Nadu forest department with field experiences from the staff at Mudumalai National Park, which was even featured in Oscar winning documentary, The Elephant Whisperers.

As per the SOP, for the first 24 hours, giving tender coconut water alone is sufficient. It also states that for the first 45 days after arrival, it is advisable to feed only milk. Then it’s essential that the calf be reunited with the herd.

“We are following the SOP. In Tamil Nadu, they have easy availability of coconut water, but we are looking for alternatives. There are two herds which are being tracked right now and we will now make efforts to find this calf a new family,” Krishnamoorthy said.