Bara, January 15

Parsa National Park is all set to welcome its first baby elephant to be born since the birth of a dead calf eighteen years ago.

Staffers at Bara’s Amlekhgunj-based stable seem excited and are at full stretch tending the expecting mother to make necessary preparations ahead of the birth.

According to the elephant stable in-charge Jalendra Prasad Chaudhary, Chitrasenkali, an elephant aged 12, is expecting a baby. “As she’s delivering her baby in a few days, an event that will be happening for the first time in eighteen years, all the staffers working at the stable are busy managing necessary things such as fodder and medicines,” said Chaudhary. Besides Chaudhary, Mahout Sachin Kumar Shrestha and watcher Anil Chaudhary are also quite busy these days.

Originally set up in Bara’s Dumarwan, the stable had then been shifted to the present location of Bara’s Amlekhgunj about 33 years ago. Last time any elephant had been pregnant was 18 years ago when an elephant named Bhawanikali had given birth to a dead calf.

Chitrasenkali is 23 months pregnant and is expected to give birth to its baby this month itself. But the veterinarians at the stable worry about the risk for the baby should the gestation period be prolonged. Around 24 months ago, Chitrasenkali had gone out of contact. “As she had gone out of contact that time, we guessed, she might have come in contact with a mate and conceived the baby,” the stable in-charge said.

Of the total 10 elephants at the stable, only five are adult and considered capable of giving birth.