M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Oct 6: The rescued male calf of the elephant died around 5.30 pm on Wednesday at Betla under the North division of Palamu Tiger Reserve.
He died motherless as stepmother Juhi, an old and longstanding captive elephant of the Betla National Park, did not own him after he was rescued from the water in the Mandal dam.
The calf was rescued by the CRPF jawans and villagers from the north Koyel river water at the non-functional Mandal dam last month on September 9.
Earlier, this male calf was described as 2 months old and accordingly put on cow’s milk. However, the senior veterinarian of the Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park Dr O P Sahu put its age to only 10 days on the day of the rescue and accordingly this male calf was put on the lactogen milk powder said the deputy director of the North division of the PTR Kumar Ashish.
Sources said the calf had upset bowel all along for which medication was used to be given under the advice of Dr Sahu and local touring veterinary officer Dr Mira Singh.
However, its health condition started deteriorating fast on Wednesday. It slept late and then refused to wake up and stand up on Wednesday morning despite propping up by the personnel of the Betla National Park.
The Betla based touring veterinary officer Dr Mira Singh said his temperature was first 96 degree F but it continued to dip faster and at one point of time it was 93 degree F.
Dr Mira Singh said she spoke to Dr O P Sahu who advised her to give anema to this calf which was done but with no tangible results.
Dr Mira Singh said the calf was put on life saving drugs like dexona, intramuscular and infusion medication, ringer’s lactate solution etc but it could not be revived as the male calf began to have more of the breathing distress.
The death of the elephant calf caused instant outrage among the wildlife lovers in Betla who raised accusing fingers at the poor and shabby caring by the Betla range personnel and official which led to its death.
Its body was taken down to Latehar animal husbandry hospital, around 80 km away from Betla, for postmortem.
The shifting of the postmortem venue gave an impression that the Betla officials were in a panic over the public reaction to the death of the elephant calf and hence took it to Latehar which was an error of fact.
Kumar Ashish, deputy director North division of the PTR, said: “We have just one touring veterinary officer Dr Mira Singh in Betla. The Latehar district animal husbandry officer Deonath Chourasia asked us to send the carcass of the calf there in Latehar for the postmortem by a panel of 3 vet doctors and so it was sent there. There is nothing more to it than a postmortem by a panel of 3 vet doctors there in Latehar.”
Betla touring veterinary officer Dr Mira Singh said she is one of the 3 doctors along with Dr Ravi Nandan, a vet surgeon, and Dr Anil Kerketta, touring veterinary officer Barwadeeh.
Till the time of filing of this report, the postmortem was on in Latehar.
