In Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari, two wild elephants stayed beside their dead calf for three days, as forest officials kept watch and locals mourned the moving display of grief.
A pair of wild elephants stood in grief for three days beside the body of their dead calf in southeastern Bangladesh, drawing tears from local residents and forest officials who watched the scene from a distance.
The calf’s body lay in a shallow muddy pond at the foot of a hill in Bottola Muslimpara of Sonaichhari union in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban, with most of the carcass submerged in water.
The mother elephant remained half-submerged in the pond beside the calf, while a male elephant stood motionless on the edge nearby, according to local residents and forest officials. Since Tuesday, the two elephants had refused to leave the calf alone even once, officials said.
Residents said they had been watching the pair standing beside the dead calf since Tuesday. The male elephant entered the forest at night to feed and returned again, after which the mother elephant also fed and came back to stay beside her offspring.
The area lies about 20 kilometres from Naikhongchhari upazila headquarters on the Naikhongchhari-Ghumdhum road. Although the location is in Bandarban, the surrounding forest falls under the Rajarkul Range of the Cox’s Bazar South Forest Division.
Forest officials have been monitoring the grieving pair for three days. Naikhongchhari Range Officer Mozammel Haque said on Thursday that the authorities did not want to disturb the elephants for now.
“They are devastated by grief. Nothing can be done until the shock of their loss eases,” he told .
Milon Tanchangya, a member of Ward No. 4 of Sonaichhari union, said residents first noticed the elephants’ distress on Tuesday afternoon. Locals believe the calf may have fallen ill and died after being unable to drink its mother’s milk.
Monirul Islam, assistant conservator of forests of the Cox’s Bazar South Forest Division, said there is an elephant corridor through Sonaichhari in Naikhongchhari linking to Myanmar.
He said officials believe the calf, estimated to be six to seven months old, may have fallen from a hill into the pond while the elephants were moving along that route either from Myanmar or in the opposite direction.
Forest staff are keeping round-the-clock watch beside the grieving animals, he said. The mother is unwilling to leave the calf’s body and cannot be driven away.
Once the elephants recover from the trauma and leave the area, officials will recover the calf’s body, he said. A post-mortem examination will then be carried out to determine whether it died after falling from the hill or from illness.
