Getting babies ready to bed is one of the toughest daily tasks parents undergo. If it is only one baby then it will be somewhat easy. When it comes to two, then the task becomes more complicated. How about two baby elephants? It is even hard to imagine. Normally, a baby elephant weighs about 246 kg. So you can imagine how hard is it.
We met some creative people in our day-to-day life. Today’s story is about a creative vet who came up with a solution to prepare exhausted baby elephants for bed. He had designed special night suits for orphaned Asian elephants. One is Rupa that is three months old while the other was Aashi. She was 11 months old. Rupa means beauty. He was rolled down a steep rock bank after few months from birth. Rupa was stuck at the bottom where her mother was unable to reach Rupa. The villagers have heard her pitiful cries. Then she was rescued and taken to the rescue center. Aashi is a Hindu word that stands for ‘joy and laughter. She was found in a trench in the Assam tea garden. Neither her mother nor the herd was with Aashi. Though she was reunited, the rescue team found her at the same location.
Dr. Panjit Basumatary is a veterinarian at the International Fund for Animal Welfare rescue center. He presented the idea to encourage pet owners to wrap pets warmly in blankets and scarves to make them comfortable while sleeping. According to him, it is important to control the body temperature of young elephants.
The two baby elephants missed their mom shortly after birth. So they had no affection or love from their mother. It was really hard for them to sleep on the cold concrete floor at the rescue center in NorthEastern India. Dr. Panjit said that she noticed in the morning, baby elephants get cold from being on the concrete floor. It is really hard as these baby elephants were being out in the sun during the day.
Rupa and Aashi were given warm pyjamas and night socks to help them have a comfortable sleep at night. They soon got used to the night attire and showed an improvement in conditions.
Rupa is ready to recover soon. Even now she is released into the wild. Aashi is also showing good results in the rehabilitation process. After ending the bottle-fed formula milk to these two elephants, they will eventually be released for two years in groups. It can be either Manas or Kaziranga, near the national park on the Bhutanese border.