In this update, we have good and bad news from Assam. Firstly, there is sad news of little Ashok, the orphaned calf who was brought to the CWRC on August 1st after his family was chased by villagers and he was left behind. Despite the best efforts of Wildlife Trust of India staff, not all elephant orphans can be saved.
- Ashok
Ashok suffered with a terrible bout of diarrhea in mid September, which resulted in him being quite dehydrated and he was put on saline and antibiotics for a few days. Although he responded well to this treatment he continued to be very weak and was kept on electrolytes to help restore balance in his body. The vets suspected a viral infection and kept him in isolation for 9 days. He then started to feed well but his sucking reflex still remained much slower than that of the other calves and it took him twice as long to feed.
Ashok also had an abscess to the right of his temporal region which was drained in the third week of September. Unfortunately a second abscess then sprang up on his left temporal region.
Ashok succumbed to his ill health on the 4th October. The primary cause of death was diagnosed as septicemia. Although he did not spend long at the CWRC he will be missed by all – perhaps mostly by Philip-Dev who had fast become his playmate and friend.
- The calf from Jaklabandha
On a brighter note Junmoni, Tora and Dihing are all doing well. The calf from Jaklabandha who was also brought into the CWRC in August, is housed with them for the time being. There is still hope that she will be reunited with her herd or at least released back into the wild. Although the calves all try to approach her, she prefers to be left alone – just as Hamren did when he was at the CWRC. Her leg injury is healing well and she is very tolerant of the vets who look after her.
- Calf from Deepor Beel
Philip Dev is very active and growing well. He is as naughty as ever and really behaves like a very pampered little calf. He is currently being housed with another new arrival, a female calf approximately 2-3 months old. She was brought into the CWRC in September after being separated from her herd in Deepor Beel. Although several attempts were made to reunite her with the herd, none was successful. Fortunately she appears quite healthy, she is feeding well and has even started nibbling on grass.
Mid-September saw another case of a young elephant becoming stuck in a trench in Borsapori Tea Estate. An excavator was brought in to flatten the sides of the trench after which the young male managed to climb out and run back into the forest.
- Calf trapped in trench
Don’t forget that if you’d like to help all these calves on their journey of rehabilitation for return to the wild you can adopt an elephant through Animal Works or enter our African elephant art competition. Tickets cost $10 each and only 100 tickets will be sold. And if you’d like an insight into one of Animal Works’ co-founder’s thoughts on both her and Nafisa Naomi’s upcoming trip to India to visit our projects, read Dr Tammie Matson’s latest blog here.
