Grieving Mother Elephant Stands For Hours By Her Dead Calf In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In a heart-rending incident, an elephant refused to move away from the carcass of its dead calf and stood beside it on the fringe of Similipal National Park even as rain lashed Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.

Reports indicate that the forest department took images and footage of the calf and its mother using cameras and drones on Wednesday, but issued no statement on the calf’s health. Later, upon noticing that the calf showed no signs of movement, a team of veterinarians arrived at the spot and confirmed that it had died.

The incident was reported near Satbhaya village under Brahmangaon panchayat in Bangiriposi forest range.

“We had been keeping track of a elephant herd moving through this area. Yesterday, one of the elephants delivered a calf. We were unable to approach it as the mother and the rest of the herd stood guard near the newborn. Once the herd left, we observed no movement in the calf. It may have passed away in the womb or shortly after being born. The exact cause will be determined after a postmortem,” Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), Baripada Forest Division, Sk Meherban Ali told the media on Thursday.

It is being suspected that heavy and prolonged rainfall in the area under the impact of Cyclone Montha possibly led to the death of the newborn calf. Bangiriposi had reportedly witnessed incessant rainfall due to the storm on Wednesday.