Forest Dept. treats dehydrated elephant

The Forest Department on Sunday treated a dehydrated one-year-old baby elephant, which got separated from a herd of elephants that visited a stream of the Payaswini river near Basmadka in Sullia on Saturday.

A group of eight elephants from the Medinadka Reserve Forest was found by the streamside on Saturday.

Except for the one-year-old calf, the remaining elephants left for the forest on Sunday morning. A team of forest officials went to the stream and found the calf weak following dehydration.

Veterinarian Venkatachalapathy consulted department’s elephant experts in Nagarahole and Sakrebailu elephant camps and treated the calf. Range Forest Officer Manjunath R. said that the calf had recovered and has now been left by the river side to join the remaining elephants. If the calf does not join the herd on Monday, he will consult higher-ups to relocate the calf, Mr. Manjunath said.