JFD rescues separated baby jumbo from Kangsabati river

KOLKATA: In a daring rescue on Saturday night, the monitoring and tracker team of the Jhargram Forest Division (JFD) successfully reunited a stranded elephant calf, trapped on an eyot in the Kangsabati river, with its mother, who had crossed the river with the herd.

According to a senior official of JFD, at around 9.30 pm, a two-month-old elephant became separated from its herd and was stranded on an eyot, while the herd, along with its mother, had crossed over to the other side of the Kangsabati river. The monitoring and tracker team of JFD closely followed the situation.

Despite strong current, two trackers swam to the eyot and assisted the calf to the riverbank. Once there, the calf attempted to enter the river but was safely restrained with a cloth. The dangerous current could have been disastrous for the baby jumbo. Monitoring teams kept track of the herd’s movements on the opposite side of the river.

The calf was then guided closer to the riverbank, so both the mother and calf could be within each other’s line of sight. The teams waited patiently as the mother and calf began communicating through calls. Eventually, the mother elephant crossed the river, and the team released the calf.

Together, the mother and calf safely crossed the river.

Tubes, boats and ropes were kept on standby in case of emergency. “The whole operation involved around 20 members of the monitoring team of JFD and lasted for around 90 minutes,” said Umar Imam, divisional forest officer (DFO), Jhargram.