Elephant calf, baboons add to Bannerghatta draw

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) on Wednesday announced the arrival of an elephant calf and four baboons. Park officials added that they received the baboons from a zoo in Sinagapore, adding that they got the elephant calf from Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary’s Mandya district sector. “Bannerghatta Biological Park is delighted to announce the arrival of Hamadryas baboon from Singapore Zoo,” an official BBP statement revealed. “Bannerghatta Biological Park received a wild, abandoned male calf from Halagur division, Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary on 01/08/2022. The calf was found alone on the way to Mutatthi on 30/07/2022 and was rescued by the Forest Department,” another BBP statement said. The park added that this particular elephant calf had been separated from its mother. “Forest department tried to introduce the calf to various elephant herds found within the range and had no success as the herd rejected the calf multiple times. The calf is estimated to be around 3-4 months old and is currently being hand-fed by mahouts in the park. “Calves weaned away from their mother’s milk before they attain one year end up with low disease resistance. Hence, the survival rate of such calves is low. We shall not let that happen to this baby elephant,” the BBP assured.