Odisha: Rescued Baby Elephant Padma Gets New Family

Dhenkanal: The female elephant calf named Padma, which was rescued from Chikiti in Ganjam district after being deserted by its herd, will get a new family at the Kapilash elephant rescue centre in the district on Wednesday.

According to the forest department sources, the baby elephant is doing well and it will be allowed to live along with the other rescued elephants at the centre. The centre already has five rescued elephants as its members.

“It was so far kept in isolation in a room at the centre. But it will be allowed to live along with the other elephants from today and its whole activities will be closely monitored,” said Dhenkanal DFO Prakash Chand Gogineni.

The calf’s blood sample was sent to OUAT for test and the report suggested that the calf is in a healthy condition.

Earlier last week, the deserted baby elephant rescued from Sunapur village on the outskirts of the silk city had been shifted to Kapilash rescue centre in Dhenkanal district.

When the elephant calf went astray from its mother, some villagers tried to ward it off towards the herd after rescuing it. However, their efforts turned futile as the herd rejected the calf. The baby elephant was part of the herd which sneaked into the locality and subsequently entered Tampara lake causing extensive damage to prawn enclosures and fishing boats. The calf got stuck in marshy lake pond and suffered injuries and later the forest department personnel nurtured the baby elephant at Tamana beat house.

Noticing the calf suffering injuries after entering the lake, some fishermen and youths of the village rescued it and tried to take it to the mother elephant. But the herd did not accept it as it was rescued by human being.

(Edited by Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty)