Bellie, the woman who raised baby elephant Raghu in the Oscar-winning short documentary The Elephant Whisperers, has said that she was earlier apprehensive at the prospect. Bellie and Bomman were recently felicitated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.

Talking to the media at a post-Oscars celebration event, Belli said in Tamil, "I was apprehensive of raising Raghu earlier because I knew that one day Raghu will have to go in the wild, the world where he belongs."

"To take any child away from a mother is not a painful experience, to say the least. But when I came to know that Raghu's mother had passed away, I couldn't say no to being with him. How could you say no to such a beautiful baby?"

The Elephant Whisperers is streaming on Netflix.