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Early on a January morning in 2015, a young bull elephant touched on a sagging electric line in the Paneri Tea Plantation in the Udalgari District of Assam, India. The elephant's soft-padded feet conducted the currentĀ and the animal fell, kicking in the mud. The local veterinarian called to the scene thought the tusker was going to die. The forest department wardenĀ called the one person who could help: Dr. Kushal Konwar Sarma, India's beloved elephant doctor.
The Elephant Doctor of India brings the middle-grade reader into the heart of Assam, a remote land of tea plantations, paddy fields, and ancient forests, to tell the true story of the last viable population ofĀ wild Asian elephants and one man who is dedicated to saving them. Author Janie Chodosh spent time with Dr. Sarma and brings his incredible storyāand the lives of these magnificent animalsāto readers in classrooms everywhere.