"The trains are invading India's elephants being hurt and killed as railways cut through their habitats

Lying on a mound of soft sand inside the nursery, Bani looks like a spoilt child being indulged. Two members of the care team massage her hind leg with oil while the third, sitting at her head, funnels sticks of sugar cane gently into her mouth, clucking reassuringly.

- Amrit Dhillon

It is the royal treatment - but Bani, who was nine months old when the collision happened, needs all the care she can get.

Bani was orphaned in mid-December when she and her pregnant mother were crossing a railway track near Jim Corbett national park in Haldwani, Uttarakhand state. A speeding train smashed into them, killing her mother and flinging baby Bani into a ditch, leaving her with serious injuries and fractured bones.

For weeks, the frightened calf, unable to stand, was treated locally. When the forest department caring for her saw no progress they contacted Wildlife SOS, an NGO, which sent a team of experts to provide critical care. Once she was strong enough they moved Bani in a custom ambulance to India's first specialist elephant hospital in Mathura, in Uttar Pradesh.

Since arriving, her life has been an intensive schedule of laser treatment, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, nerve stimulation and ayurvedic massage. One day, she was able to twitch her tail, to the elation of the staff - it indicated her spine would recover.