By Indo-Asian News Service
Manas (Assam): Six hand-raised elephant calves being readied for release in a wildlife sanctuary in Assam are raring to taste freedom as monsoon-induced fresh vegetation offers them a rare food extravaganza.
The continuous rain in the last fortnight has increased the vegetation cover manifold, offering the animals a huge supply of natural food.
As part of a unique plan to set them free, the calves were brought to Doimari in the Manas national park from their earlier home in Kaziranga, about 350 km away, in February.
All of them were between one year and two years old when they were rescued from different parts of Assam. They were raised at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Kaziranga.
“Since food is in plenty these days, the elephants are very excited to venture out for long hours for forage. But sometimes we are worried when they move to faraway places and remain out of sight,” said Tarun Gogoi, one of the animal keepers who look after the elephants.
The temperature is down in rain-drenched Manas, offering a perfect condition for the calves to laze around.
The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) had built a night shelter for the elephant calves deep inside the Doimari forests of the Manas park to protect them from predators.
CWRC is India’s first multi-species rescue and rehabilitation centre, set up jointly by WTI and IFAW in 2002, with support from the Assam forest department.
The calves were radio-collared and two animal keepers have been assigned so that they can be monitored round the clock.
Now the grass has grown so tall that the monitors are having trouble spotting the calves.
“The prevailing climatic condition is not helping to collect accurate data from the radio-collars on their whereabouts,” said Bhaskar Choudhury, the WTI veterinarian in Doimari.
“Their desire for freedom is a natural progression, since we habituated them to behave that way. This programme will help them to return to wilderness.”
The Manas national park, a world heritage site, is home to more than 600 wild elephants, besides a wide variety of rare carnivores, mammals and birds.
These elephant calves were the first in India to be returned to the wild after being hand-raised by humans.
Sri Lanka was the only country in Asia where elephants have been successfully returned to the wild though this is frequently done in Africa.