Bomman, Bellie heartbroken as baby elephant raised by Elephant Whisperers for 15 days, dies

In a sad turn of events, a baby elephant that was being taken care of by Bomman and Bellie, the protagonist couple from the Oscar-winning documentary Elephant Whisperers, died in the wee hours of Friday. For nearly two weeks, the baby elephant was housed at the Theppakadu Elephant Camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. Forest department officials has moved the baby to the camp, as it was learnt that the baby was separated from its mother and herd.

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Earlier this month, as per the orders of the state Forest department, the baby elephant was rescued from a well in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district by Bellan. From 16 March onwards, the baby elephant was being provided a liquid-based diet and was being monitored by the medical staff and the caretaker couple Bomman and Bellie. According to officials, the baby was being fed lactogen.

However, baby elephants don't secrete adequate enzymes to digest lactogen and such enzymes are very low in babies that are not being fed by the mother. Officials suspect that the lactogen began to slowly accumulate in the baby's body and there were no visible symptoms of this, as the baby continued to remain active and playful. As undigested lactogen accumulated in the baby's system, it began to cause diarrhoea, said officials. 

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On Thursday, having noticed diarrhoea, the veterinary doctors began to provide glucose, which was mixed with medicines. But the baby elephant died around 1am on Friday, without responding to treatment. It is suspected that diarrhoea and death would have been caused by some allergies, however, a post-mortem is being conducted to study the exact cause of the baby's death. 

The elephant caretaker couple Bomman and Bellie shot to prominence after a documentary film 'Elephant Whisperers' was shot at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and the Theppakadu elephant camp within the reserve. The film was based on how Bomman and Bellie go on to raise two abandoned baby elephants and captures the special bond between the human caregivers and the baby elephants. 

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