When the Forest Department tried to chase away the mother elephant to rescue the body of the calf which was trapped in the slush in Gudalur's Vattakolli area, the mother elephant reportedly chased after the forest officials aggressively. The mother elephant was driven back into the forest cover after the officials enlisted the help of a Kumki.
The Nilgiris: The trumpeting of elephants was heard at Vattakolli area of Devarshola town panchayat near Gudalur in the Nilgiris district which alerted tribals in the area.
The trials immediately informed the Forest Department and on receiving the information, the forest officials quickly reached the spot to find a baby elephant dead in the slush of a water body. The forest officials then tried to chase away the mother elephant to recover the body of the calf.
The grieving and aggressive mother elephant chased the forest officials, following which a Kumki was enlisted for help to drive away the mother elephant back into the dense forest. After a long time the mother elephant went back into the forest.
The body of the dead calf was recovered and a post-mortem was conducted with the help of the Mudumalai Forest veterinarian.
It was discovered that the deceased calf was one-year-old.