3-month-old elephant calf to be shifted to Mudumalai

The submission was made before a division bench comprising Justice M Sathaynarayanan and Justice N Seshasayee in response to a plea moved by S Muralidharan, an animal lover, seeking to rescue the calf that had drifted away from its herd and was found at Kadambur hills in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Erode district.

The petitioner had submitted that move by the Forest Department to reunite the calf with the herd was ill-advised, as the probability of the herd accepting the calf was low.

Moreover, the calf being just three months cannot fend for itself in the forest and would end up being an easy prey to tigers and wild dogs.

After the calf strayed out of the forest into Kadambur village near the tiger reserve on September 27, the department took steps to reunite it with the herd. Though it was sent back to the forest, the calf returned to Dhimbam in Hasanur Village on October 2.

As the calf was found to be weak and had wounds, it was taken into the forest veterinary unit at Karachikorai and treatment was provided for over a week. On October 9, the officials tried to drive the calf into the forest again but this effort, too, failed.