Fishermen rescue newborn elephant swept downstream in West Bengal’s Teesta River and reunite it with its mother

The useful part

On September 21, two fishermen were navigating the rising floodwaters of the Teesta River in West Bengal, India when they saw a trunk poking out of the water like a tiny periscope. According to Mudit Kumar Verma, a Baikunthapur divisional forest officer for the Indian Forest Service, the calf had been swept nearly three miles downstream after it had tried to cross the Teesta River. "Our forest team, with help of local fishermen, rescued the drowning calf and reunited it with its mother," Verma wrote on the social media site X.

How it works

• @parveenkaswan/X Fearing that prolonged human contact would make it harder to reunite the calf with its mother, the IFS officials worked quickly to locate the adult nearby.
• Now, 10,000 have been released back into the wild After 10 years of coordinated conservation work, the amphibian is back to its natural habitat.
• Upon closer inspection, the calf was estimated to be only three or four days old.
• According to The Indian Express, a significant population of Asian elephants — which are endangered — occupies the forested regions of Siliguri and Gajoldoba in West Bengal.
• There, they are often forced to contend with human-dominated landscapes and local rivers, which can rise to treacherous heights during monsoon season.

What to take from it

@parveenkaswan/X Other countries in South Asia have been engineering ways to protect elephants as they migrate. In Sri Lanka, the Department of Wildlife Conservation recently launched a pilot program to add sensors along railway tracks in areas known for high-elephant crossings. "We tested sensors on trains, but mounting cameras on trains presented issues.

Example or evidence

• Most accidents happen at such bends." The new sensors record weight and sound to alert approaching train conductors to animals on the tracks.
• These sensors detect seismic waves — the ground vibrations produced when an elephant walks," Marasinghe explained.
• "Beyond that, it uses multiple sensors to capture sound and other inputs." "We then use AI to accurately identify the animal and issue alerts to the train driver and personnel along the station line.
• The system includes SMS alerts and light warnings." The technology is designed to give them enough time to safely bring the train to a halt and prevent deadly collisions.

Details worth keeping

"We tried various methods previously," Marasinghe told The Sunday Morning. "A set of sensors is now stationed along the tracks. "It detects large animals and senses significant mass," said Marasinghe.

Related coverage

• Independent: Men followed calf for 5km before returning it to its mother
• Goodgoodgood: Trust specializes in rescuing and raising orphaned elephants, but their primary mission is always reunification.
• Goodgoodgood: Kipekee had been forced to look for help after her mother was caught in the crosshairs of a local conflict.