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was taken back to the sanctuary by a herd of four elephants
on Saturday afternoon.
The officials of the Chandaka Wildlife
Division are now tracking the movement of
the herd with which Kalinga was moving.
The four elephants had come near the makeshift
enclosure made for Kalinga in the vicinity
of the sanctuary around 2 pm on Saturday.
After they came in contact with Kalinga,
she mingled with them.
Kalinga accompanied the herd when it returned
to the forests at 3 pm, according to Chandaka
Divisional Forest Officer Akshaya Patnaik.
One-year-old Kalinga had missed an opportunity
to return to the wild when a herd of elephants
from the sanctuary came near him on Tuesday
last.
A female elephant from the herd had come
to Kalinga and tried to push her to take
her along. But the calf had failed to go
with the herd when it went inside the jungle.
Kalinga had got separated from a herd that
strayed into Kalinga Studio premises on
the night of May 3. The pachyderms had returned
to Chandaka forests on the night of May
5 leaving the calf alone.
Forest officials had created the enclosure
for the calf and feeding her with milk and
artificial feed.
The expectation of the officials that elephants
from the sanctuary may come again to take
Kalinga back finally became a reality when
Kalinga safely returned to its home.
The calf was last sighted from the Bharatpur
watch tower at around 5.30 pm on Saturday
when she was roaming with three female elephants
inside the sanctuary.
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