Over the last one year, the Tamil Nadu Forest department has successfully reunited three elephant calves that got separated from their herds in the Nilgiris district. Officials and staff who worked on these “complicated” operations said multiple factors dictated whether these efforts to reunite the lost calves were successful. Also, these efforts were helping them to better understand elephant behaviour and their complex social structures.
In October 2021, a young calf, that got stuck inside an illegal gold mine in Devala, was rescued by the staff, who walked with the animal to find the herd from which it got separated. This year, a calf that got separated from its mother when the Sigurhalla river was in spate due to heavy rains was reunited after a mammoth, three-day effort by the Forest department, while earlier this week, another calf was reunited with its mother in the Gudalur division.
“There are multiple factors which dictate whether an operation to reunite a calf with its mother turns out to be a success,” said N. Kalaivanan, former wildlife veterinarian and currently a veterinary assistant surgeon in Theni. “If a calf is separated from its mother accidentally, be it due to a flood, or while escaping from a predator, then there is a higher chance of the animal being reunited with its herd. However, if the mother abandons the elephant due to it being weak, or due to other factors, then it obviously becomes almost impossible to reunite it with its herd,” said Dr. Kalaivanan.
