Last month, Meli Souter, who runs Animal Works’ elephant adoption program, went to Assam to see the work being done by the Wildlife Trust of India, our partner organisation there.  Here’s what she had to say about it.

“Two years ago I attended an Elephant Extravaganza fundraiser organised by a group called Animal Works. Tammie and Nafisa introduced me to the world of human elephant conflict and showed photos of little orphaned elephants. That’s how I became involved and how our adoption program was born. After two years of running this, the next step for me was to visit the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Assam.  In early January I flew from from Delhi to Guwahati and after a 5 hour drive amid the swarms of trucks, cars, bikes, dogs, goats, and cows – I arrived.

The first thing to do, of course, was meet the current orphans. But I heard them long before I met them. Rani Deepor is LOUD when she is hungry and her trumpets usually set off little Lily Nunai and Philip-Dev. As soon as milk arrives there is complete silence although a few inquisitive trunks inched towards me. The three young calves spend their days in the fields and their nights in the stable for mega herbivores which also houses a rhino calf in an adjoining cubicle. Philip-Dev looks amazing and only has a few scars left from his ordeal where he lost his mother and little Lily Nunai follows her keeper Bhinni everywhere. The older calves are housed in the field overnight and although Tora (pronounced Tara in Assamese) is always at milk feeds with her trunk up and ready to tuck in, she is being weaned and eating sufficient grass.

Dihing is by far the most mischievous calf and has the electric fence surrounding the paddock completely sussed. He first tests to see if there is a current with his toenails and if he feels nothing he tries the sole of his foot. Then it’s a quick couple of stamps on the wires to bring the strands of fencing down and he’s through.  Not that he actually goes anywhere once he’s out – he just stands on the other side waiting for the keepers! One night he broke out and Junmoni took charge, leading both him and Tora to the front of the compound where they had a small party, trampling on pot plants and decimating a banana tree.

Bath times are a highlight for the orphans and Tora is a complete water baby. In fact the keepers have as hard a time getting her out of the water as they do getting Philip-Dev in. He just hates it and will simply run through the water, out the other side and away from the keepers.

Asian elephant calves are hairy!! Philip-Dev has a head-full and Junmoni  has a little beard. Dihing is developing tusks which look really cute and Tora follows him everywhere, as Rani does with Philip. There are 2 distinct groups – Lily Nunai, Rani Deepor and Philip Dev in one and Junmoni, Dihing and Tora in the other. The sub-adult calf from Jaklabandha, Chandi Bandha, spends most of her time alone although she occasionally hangs out with the older orphans. There was some hope that she would mother the smaller calves but she is obviously just not the maternal type.

Anyone reading our blogs could be excused for thinking the CWRC is just about elephants, but far from it. Residents during my visit included 3 leopards, a tiger cub, a litter of jungle cats, a water buffalo calf, storks, a hornbill, a gibbon and 4 rhinos – 2 of whom are set to be released in Manas in February.

The baby gibbon was admitted to the CWRC after his mother touched a live wire and electrocuted herself – he will be released back to the same area once he is old enough. The tiger cub was found alone with no signs of the mother nearby. She was very weak upon arrival and had lost a lot of hair due to malnutrition. One night the keepers were sure she would not make it and sat up with her the whole night expecting her to go. However she has a feisty spirit and pulled through despite being underweight and small for her age. Her hair is now growing back and she is eating chicken and beef.

Male Leopard

Big cat rehabilitation is a questionable venture. Once they have been hand raised they are unfortunately destined to a life of captivity. Being solitary animals the leopards cannot be housed together and there is only one large enclosure so the remaining two leopards are enclosed in smaller cages.  Despite the keepers providing behavioural enrichment, a female was pacing her enclosure whilst I was there – atypical behaviour – so it was decided to change her environment. This involved sedating her and taking her to the larger enclosure and moving the current resident out.  He has been with the CWRC for almost 10 years and there is simply nowhere for him to go. India has no leopard sanctuaries and even the zoos do not want leopards. To raise funds towards a larger carnivore enclosure we have added the young male to our adoption program. Please click here if you are able to help. All donations are now tax deductible in Australia.

No trip to Assam would be complete without visiting the elephants release site at Doimari Camp in Manas National Park. It really is a stunningly beautiful area and I can think of nowhere nicer to be returned to a life in the wild. I was lucky enough to join the trackers looking for Soni on my last day. After a couple of hours they obtained some strong signals on the Indian side of the Mathanguri border with Bhutan. Being a foreigner I was not allowed out of the jeep but the trackers came back with good news, they had not only sighted Soni and Tinku but also Sikom. Our driver had an exciting encounter in December when he sighted Hamren – TWICE!  Both times he was with a herd of 15 other elephants. There still has been no sightings of Tikla and although he had lost condition on last sighting it is quite normal as the calves take awhile to adjust to their new surrounds.

Besides having such a rewarding and enriching time this trip really made me aware of just how much ongoing donations to this project are so vital. The younger calves can guzzle 5 litres of milk in under 2 minutes flat and need up to 9 milk feeds a day. They also need veterinary care, the stables need daily cleaning and sterilisation, the milk bottles need sterilisation after each feed , they all need vitamin and mineral supplements and of course food. And that’s only the elephants! There’s also keepers at the centre 24/7 and a operational mobile veterinary service.

The Wildlife Trust of India, celebrating 10 years of operation in August this year, have so far released 13 orphans into Manas National Park. Without them these elephants would now be in captivity. An opportunity of a life in the wild is a rare gift that we can provide.

Manas National Park was the scene of heavy poaching during a local insurgency a decade ago and the wildlife here was all but wiped out. The rhino population actually was wiped out. By sponsoring  a elephant calf you are not only giving an elephant a future but also restoring the glory of an amazing National Park.

I’d like to thank Devna Arora, Dr Abhijit Bhawal, Dr Bhaskar Choudhury and Kelly and Zac for helping make this such an amazing trip.”

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