Jamshedpur, Oct. 1: The forest department is pinning hope on ayurvedic medicines to cure the injured baby elephant that was rescued from Rajabasa jungle in Ghatshila on Monday. The calf’s condition has deteriorated.

A.T. Mishra, the divisional forest officer (DFO) of Dhalbhum, said: “We are looking for an ayurvedic expert who can treat the baby elephant.” He added that they were not very optimistic about the recovery of the calf, which had fever yesterday and stopped eating. It was also suffering from diarrhoea. Though its temperature was normal today, it has developed urinary problems.

Although the DFO expressed satisfaction with the treatment being provided to the calf at Tata Steel Zoological Park in Jamshedpur, he said that ayurvedic medicines needed to be administered along with allopathic to completely cure it.

“The baby elephant, which had injury marks on its body, was running a temperature of 102°. Due to the efforts of the zoo veterinary doctor, Manik Palit, the fever subsided, but some urinating problems have developed,” Mishra said.

Palit said that the calf developed some kind of infection in its urinary tracts and as a result, has stopped urinating. “It seems that the calf was deprived of breast milk. Colostrum in mother’s milk helps babies acquire immunity,” the vet added.

He said that ayurvedic medicines were available for adult elephants, but had no idea whether such medicines could be given to calves.