BHUBANESWAR, JAN 1: Rescued from angry villagers who had held her hostage, 3-month-old Heera has become the cynosure of all eyes at the Nandan Kanan Biological Park near here.The baby elephant trumpets as her keeper approaches and prances about signalling that she is no longer missing her mother who had chosen to forsake her in the Chandka forest, close to this city, recently. Heera has become a good partner for Mary and Janaki, two orphaned calves now being reared in the park, zoo officials said, adding, she has taken to the atmosphere like duck to water.The baby, part of a herd of pachyderms which raided a village on the fingers of the Chandka, an elephant sanctuary, a few weeks ago was stranded when the villagers chased them. She fell into a ditch and the local people pulled her out but kept her confined till the Excise Minister, Suresh Routray, intervened and ensured that the calf was handed over to the wildlife officials.Though she was brought to Nandan Kanan, officials decided to put her backin the herd. She was taken in a jeep to the forest the same evening and taken near the herd. The herd, however, rejected Heera who ran back to the wildlife personnel waiting at a distance.Before rejecting Heera, one elephant came close to her, sniffed and felt her, but chose to go away without the baby. Experts said the calf was rejected by the herd since she had already been among humans for several hours.They tried to coax the herd to accept her the next day. But the effort failed after which she was kept in the Nandan Kanan zoo. Meanwhile, an international organisation, which has successfully reared and released 13 orphan elephant calves in South Africa has offered several tips as to how to take care of Heera, according to Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa, a NGO working for protection of forest and wildlife in the State. "We had left a message on the Internet about the rescue of the elephant calf seeking advice on rearing her," Mohanty said.South Africa's DavidSheldrick Trust responded by sending the society a detailed list of dos and don'ts in taking care of the calf, Mohanty said. The trust had said that such a young calf had to be reared with much love and care and should never be left alone. It should always be accompanied by humans. It advised that the baby should at least have two or three keepers so that she was not particularly attached to any one of them."I feel so happy. Now I have three daughters to look after. I can't sleep during the night when I think of them," said Gunanidhi, the mahout looking after Heera.
