When a 15-day-old orphaned elephant calf was rescued by the forest department from Najibabad forest in Bijnor, in September 2023, little did anyone know how it would survive without a mother.
The calf was sent to the Dudhwa tiger reserve (DTR), but not before the forest department’s team in Bijnor had tried enough to reunite the calf with herds of elephants crossing over the region
The calf was sent to the Dudhwa tiger reserve (DTR), but not before the forest department’s team in Bijnor had tried enough to reunite the calf with herds of elephants crossing over the region.But when the herds did not take the calf along, maybe because of human interference, it was sent to DTR, where it got its name, Gauri.
Deputy director of DTR, Rengaraju Tamilselvan, said that it was Durga who accepted Gauri and took it under her wings, like a mother, making the job of nurturing the calf much easier for them. Today, Gauri is three months old and has found a doting mother in Durga.
Both the elephants had come to Dudhwa during Navratri and hence got their names – Durga and Gauri.
Dudhwa has 25 captive elephants, but none except Durga accepted the calf. The reason for her affinity towards Gauri was her own past.
For now, Gauri and her new mom Durga inseparable
She herself was found orphaned in Bijnor in 2018 as a calf. The forest department tried to send her back to the forests, but the herds did not accept her. She was then sent to Dudhwa. Durga, now 7, understands the pain Gauri has gone through.
Today, she takes care of Gauri like her own calf. She would pick up a dry branch or a wooden stick and twirl it to Gauri to make her play and watch in silence when the little one sleeps next to her.
There’s another link between the two elephants: their mahout, Irshad, who reared Durga and is now taking care of Gauri. “His experience with Durga helped us in the case of Gauri too. We knew how to rear the calf like our own child,” said the official.
The captive elephants at Dudhwa were brought from Karnataka and other states to be trained in patrolling, rescue operations and other specialised wildlife activities. Durga is one of the lot, undergoing training at the reserve.
“Gauri will also join them by the time she is ten years old and is done with the train- ing,” said the deputy director. For now, the two are inseparable. Gauri is being raised on cow’s milk and lactogen daily. About 16 litres of milk and two packs of lactogen is what she consumes in 24 hours, about five times a day and night. When Durga is busy with her daily chores or the work at the reserve, Gauri has Irshad for a friendly company. “By the time Gauri is 10 or so, we will train her too for specialised activities,” said the official. As of now, she is learning to take baby steps under the watchful gaze and able guidance of her new mother, Durga.