The elephant calf at the CWRC near Kaziranga. Telegraph picture

Guwahati, Dec. 7: An elephant calf was rejected by its herd after it was smeared with vermilion and mustard oil by villagers in an apparent attempt to worship “Ganesh Baba” after it was found near a village under Hojai forest division in Nagaon district yesterday.

Forest department personnel tried twice to reunite the calf with the herd but the latter refused to accept it because of the alien odours emanating from its body.

The nearly three-month-old calf had to be shifted to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near Kaziranga after repeated attempts by the forest department personnel and International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India officials to reunite it with the herd failed.

“The smell of vermilion and oil smeared on the calf’s body could be the reason for the herd refusing to accept the calf. The smell of humans combined with that of oil and vermilion repulsed the herd,” noted wildlife expert and retired professor of Gauhati University, Parimal Chandra Bhattacharjee, told The Telegraph today.

The villagers spotted the calf in a sugarcane plantation at Lashkar Pathar early yesterday. They then informed the forest department but not before the ritual worshipping of Ganesh baba.

“We rushed to the spot immediately and took possession of the calf. Subsequently, we spotted the herd grazing in a nearby area and released the calf near the herd. We saw the calf running towards the herd and trying to mingle. We came back thinking that it was safe. But to our surprise the calf was found abandoned again after about an hour. We then washed its body with water and smeared it with elephant dung so that the herd accepts it, but only a female elephant, believed to be its mother, was seen welcoming the calf in the second attempt. The rest of the herd was not allowing the calf to be a part of it. Finally, the mother also left with the herd, leaving the calf behind,” said Jayanta Deka, assistant conservator of forests, Hojai division.

Bhattacharjee said there were mainly two reasons for the elephants refusing to accept a calf belonging to the herd — if the calf is separated from the herd for a long period and if it comes into contact with human beings.

Elephant herds also abandon calves when they fail to keep pace with the herd because of sickness.

“In the Nagaon incident, the calf was a healthy one and there was no sign of any sickness. It was only because of the human contact that the herd refused to accept the calf,” Bhattacharjee said.

Rathin Barman, the co-ordinator of IFAW-WTI (Northeast), said the intention of the local people who smeared the calf with vermilion and mustard oil sprang out of ignorance about animal habits.

“This was a total lack of awareness among the villagers who worshipped the calf as Ganesh Baba,” he said.

The abandoned calf was finally brought to the rehabilitation centre.

“It is doing fine, though it is suffering from moderate dehydration,” said Anil Deka, IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India) vet, currently attending to the calf.

“We are feeding it with electrolyte now. We will start feeding it milk soon,” he added.