Orphan elephants need a lot of affection.
Every day, the carers at the IFAW Wildlife Rescue Center spend several hours playing
and cuddling with them.
Experience has shown that otherwise, they waste away.
The center is also home to 13 baby rhinos, some Indian hog deer, leopards and various
types of ape.
Most of them come from the nearby Kaziranga National Park.
This baby elephant was rescued from a ditch it had got stuck in.
That sort of thing happens often.
Traffic accidents are also common.
Baby elephants don't have very robust immune systems.
We need to be very careful with them.
We used to make sure there was always a carer with them, but it's too risky.
They get their trunks into everything and they can easily pick up infections from humans.
Dr. Basumatary is keen to limit contact between the baby elephants and their
carers - without depriving the calves of the bodily warmth they need to survive.
These two baby elephants are now sharing their quarters.
There's a yard they can play in, and a roofed hut where they can sleep.
At night, when temperatures drop, they even wear pajamas and slippers.
We do our best to look after the calves in a species-appropriate way.
They're kept outside to recreate forest life with their mothers.
It also helps them adjust when they're released.
In Assam, animals and humans live in close proximity.
The road connecting the Kaziranga National Park with the veterinary clinic is one of
the busiest in the region.
The state's main industries are tourism and agriculture.
Working elephants are a common sight.
Tea plantations line the hill slopes.
Assam tea is world famous.
On the other side of the road are rice plantations.
Assam is flood-prone, so harvests are often ruined.
The floods come twice a year.
The Gogoi family are making rice flour.
A few repairs are needed on the house.
In autumn, a herd of deer escaping the rising flood water sought refuge on their land.
Down there is our village, Mohpora.
Less than a kilometre in that direction is the national park.
It's home to wild animals.
Rhinos, elephants, tigers, water buffalo and many others.
If the river bursts its banks it puts their lives in danger.
And then they come to the village.
Two thirds of his last harvest was ruined.
He had to resort to planting mustard seeds, which grow fast, to make sure he had at least
some income.
Our problems are mounting.
The tea plantations are expanding across the slopes, reducing the forest - the elephants'
habitat.
So they come down here and ruin our crops.
They destroy our homes and kill people.
The water buffalo also leave the park in search of food.
The tigers prey on their calves, and go crazy.
And kill more people.
Tiger attacks ocurr every month.
Phulmai Choudhury's father-in-law suffered one on his way to work one morning.
Her husband can't bear to talk about it.
My father in law was badly wounded.
A woman from the village found him.
He was carried back home on a blanket.
We took him to hospital but he'd already lost so much blood, and died the same day.
Children aren't allowed to play outside in the mornings and evenings, when the danger's
most acute.
In the National park the animals are allowed to roam free.
Its rhinoceros population is one of the most stable in the world.
But to locals, it feels like the government cares more about wildlife than it does about
humans.
That's why they're taking matters into their own hands.
Every night, local men patrol the border to the national park.
They use torches to scare off any roving animals.
Torches wouldn't be much use if the animals turned aggressive.
But their families in the village feel safer.
The elephants have to get used to living in the
wild.
The baby elephants born in the national park have grown into a herd.
They're taken out every day to learn how to look for food - and also to avoid villages
and roads.
Next year, they'll be moved to another national park where they'll roam free.
We raise them, feeding them with bottles.
It's always very sad when we have to take them to the Madras Park.
Sometimes I go there and call them - and they come and see me.
It's good to see them in their habitat.
In the wild, where they belong.
But that's still a long way off.
For the time being, the herd still has a lot to learn.