Baby elephant dies in Alipore zoo

KOLKATA - A baby elephant died of diarrhoea in the Alipore Zoological Garden here Friday, a forest department official said.

The four-month-old ailing elephant had been given five bottles of saline after it developed an infection, said West Bengals Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Atanu Raha.

It had been brought to the zoo when it was a month old after it got separated from its mother in a wild elephant herd at Danton in West Midnapore district, Raha said.

A villager had spotted the lone pachyderm and informed the forest department officials.

In such cases, survival becomes difficult. They seek the mothers milk which provides them with a certain immunity. But this baby elephant did not get that.

“We had to feed it with artificial milk. Most of the times that does not suit them and they become prone to infection, said Raha.

A very efficient team of veterinary doctors was monitoring it round the clock. But in the end, the unfortunate happened, he added.