Parents know all too well the challenge of getting two tired children to bed, but what about preparing two exhausted baby elephants weighing a total of 246 kg to turn in for the night? Luckily, a resourceful veterinarian found a solution by providing Rupa and Aashi, two orphaned Asian elephants aged three and eleven months respectively, with warm pajamas and night socks to help them sleep. Separated from their mothers shortly after birth, the elephants lacked the warmth and affection they needed to sleep on the cold concrete floor of a rescue center in northeastern India. The custom-made bedding proved to be a success as evidenced by the heartwarming photos of the two sleeping soundly next to each other.
Rupa – whose name means ‘beauty’ – rolled down a steep rocky bank into a ravine when he was just a few weeks old. She was stuck at the bottom, and her mother couldn’t reach her.
It was only when the villagers heard her pitiful cries that she was taken to the rescue center. Aashi – a Hindu word meaning “joy and laughter” – was found in a trench in the Assam tea garden without her mother or herd. She was reunited but was later found alone in the same location that had been denied.
At first, it appeared that the baby elephants found in Kaziranga National Park – which the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit later this month – had a slim chance of survival.
But like Babar, the elegantly dressed French cartoon elephant, the nightgowns fit like a dream. Dr. Panjit Basumatary, a veterinarian at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) rescue center, came up with the idea and encouraged pet owners to wrap them warmly in blankets and scarves.
“With young elephants, it’s important to control their body temperature,” he said. “I noticed in the morning they can get cold from being in the concrete nursery after being out in the sun during the day.”
Some colleagues were skeptical, but the elephants soon got used to wearing socks and boots at night. Followers quickly see their condition improve – they were warmer and more content in the morning.
Rupa is now stable on the road to recovery and was eventually released into the wild after dislocating his leg and sustaining deep i.nj.uri.es from the fall. Aashi, who was severely dehydrated and stressed when she was found on the tea plantation, is also making good progress.
Sadly, the problem of suckling baby elephants being separated from their mothers is getting worse in a region rich in Asian elephants and the world’s largest single-horned rhino population.
Po.ach.ing is also a big problem with the demand for illegal ivory and rhino horn for the Chinese market.
Rapid population growth also means that formerly wild areas are becoming built up, and disoriented elephants often stray into towns and villages.
After Rupa and Aashi are weaned from bottle-fed formula milk, they will eventually be released for a period of two years in groups – in Kaziranga or Manas, a nearby national park on the Bhutanese border.
It costs around £50 a day to care for a baby elephant for the first three months at the IFAW center, and they need new boots every two weeks.
Philip Mansbridge, UK Director of IFAW, said: “Such rescue work is making a real difference. However, casualties often come to us at a young age and usually in very vulnerable circumstances.
“These endangered Asian elephants must be given the protection they deserve so this beautiful elephant has a chance to recover.”