Karnataka: Elephant Calf Named After Puneeth Rajkumar

The actor last visited the camp in September -- earlier this year as a part of shooting for a documentary about elephant conservation -- and spent some time with the calf

Chennai: The Forest officials of an elephant camp at Sakrebailu near Shivamogga named a two-year-old male elephant calf after Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar, who passed away recently.

Speaking to ANI, Nagaraj, Deputy Conservator of Forest said, "Puneeth Rajkumar made a three-hour visit to this camp. He especially loved this calf and spent time with it. Generally, we name the calves after the names of Gods, but this time our staff and local public requested to name the calf after Puneeth Rajkumar as it was his favourite in the camp. We are really happy to keep his name."

According to a report in Deccan Herald, the actor last visited the camp in September -- earlier this year as a part of shooting for a documentary about elephant conservation -- and spent some time with the calf. 

The calf was weaned from his mother -- Nethra -- on Wednesday and the forest officials decided to name the calf after weaning has named it after Puneeth, as a tribute to the actor. 

"The calf was supposed to be separated as soon as it completed two years. However, the process was delayed by three months due to rains. “We will keep the calf in isolation so that it could be trained. If it is not separated from its mother at this age, it would be difficult to control it later," said Nagaraj as quoted by The Hindu.