Two days of events..some happy, some sad

(All photos have been taken by Halan, Mudumalai Wildlife Ranger)

Thusrday, 13th August 2009, 5:30 pm:

We'd received a call from Halan sir (Mudumalai wildlife ranger) that a captured tusker was going to be released at the elephant camp. We rushed to witness the event.

When we reached there we found a semi-sized truck strapped with bamboo forming a sort of a cage. It was hard to see if there was an elephant in it. Bomman had taken up his post already and informed us of all he knew. "It was found at the bus stand in Coonoor" ,he said. Now that's an unlikely place to find an elephant, I thought. Later we were informed by Dr. K that he was found in a bungalow estate in Coonoor. I have no idea how they manage to catch him, but there he was, the 4 year old; must've been frightened out of his wits!

The next hour passed by in trying to noose him and turn him around so that he could safely walk out of the truck. He came out with a flourish! Sprightly fellow. He calmed down once the kumki eles were around him.

We walked up to Halan Sir. "Sir, what's going to happen now?", we asked. "Oh, we'll release him here into our forest", he said with a smile. "But he'll be alone!" I exclaimed. Halan Sir reassured us that he's old enough to fend for himself. Dr.K also confirmed that, and added that it's better to have him in the wild than at the elephant camp. But it was too late into the evening, so the release was going to happen tomorrow morning.

Friday, 14th August, 2009, 7:00 am (I think):

Little tusker was escorted to the forest early the next morning. Bomman aane was always there to reassure him. He'd become so attached to Bomman aane that he wouldn't leave his side, and had to be chased away when the forest officials released him.

Same day, 9:00 am:

We met Dr. K and his troop along Ponnangiri road. They were looking for the tusker, but didn't find him.

Till then we had a lot of sightings along the road - two sambaar (crossing the road), one striped necked mongoose (crossing the road), one malabar giant squirrel (not crossing the road, but up on a tree in a perfect pose for a photo which I missed), and, a peacock display. I hope you can view this video...

While working we'd also received news of a very tragic kind..a French lady had passed away, apparently "attacked" by an elephant. Here's a news article. Out of the many versions I've heard so far I'm inclined to believe this one.
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4895533.cms

It's a boy!

We have a new member to the "aane" family at the Theppakadu elephant camp. He's only 24 days old. When the forest department had rescued him at Coonoor he was around 10 days old. The story goes that he was stuck in a ravine and his mom died while trying to save him. The mahout who's looking after him hasn't given him a name yet; they'll wait for him to turn one. Right now he's in good hands with the mahout and his family and Dr. Kalaivanan (our resident wildlife vet) to look after him. Let's hope for the best for this little one!