Responding to an emergency call from the Kaziranga National Park authorities, the Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) team of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), the IFAW- WTI wildlife care centre adjacent to the park, reached Agoratoli range during wee hours of May 6, 2015 to receive a neonatal male rhino calf from a rescue team of the park.  The lonely calf was found to be severely dehydrated and weak, when it was rescued by the forest staff form a water body. The rescuers said that they had found the calf struggling to cross a water stream but stuck on the bushes near Balidubi anti-poaching camp. The small streams of the park were in spate due to monsoon rain. The forest staff searched for the mother but in vain.  Seeing the deteriorating condition of the neonatal baby with umbilical cord intact, the forest authorities informed CWRC for better care of the calf.  The veterinarians examining the calf on site at Agoratoli Range immediately shifted it for quarantine care at the centre for his survival.

“The baby is responding well though it will need time to regain his body normal condition physiologically.” said, Dr. Panjit Basumatary, the CWRC veterinarian who is looking after the rhino calf. The calf is now under 24 hour’s observation, with two animal keepers playing the role of its foster mother round the clock to support its needs.

Photographs and text by Subhamoy Bhattacharjee, IFAW-WTI