The Hindu : Kerala News : A great jumbo rescue operation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 15, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

A great jumbo rescue operation

K.A. Martin

– Photo: H. Vibhu

The rescue act: A baby elephant being brought out of a 20-foot-deep well at a rubber plantation in Vettamppara, near Kothamangalam, on Wednesday.

VETTAMPPARA (KOTHAMANGALAM): A three-year-old elephant that fell into a 20-foot-deep well in a rubber estate near here in the early hours of Monday was rescued after about 10 hours of combined efforts by personnel of the Forest Department and people in Aynichal, a village bound by towering hills and the majestic Periyar.

The baby elephant, all covered in mud, looking scared and trumpeting for help, emerged out of the well at 2 p.m. to the great cheer and cries of happiness from over 1,500 people who had come from the nearby villages to witness what one of them described as “a great wonder of nature.”

The baby elephant must have fallen accidentally into the well as the rubber estate is often witness to forage by elephant herds. They have been in and out of the estate for more than nine times in the recent months, said the rubber estate owner C.T. Dhinoj. At least 25 rubber trees and a little dwelling shed were trampled down by frenzied herd members looking for their missing baby, he said.

The rescue efforts had begun in the early hours of Tuesday when a herd of angry elephants drew the attention of guards in the estate to the baby elephant in the well. The elephants gave up their efforts to rescue the young one and left at daybreak, leaving the work to the local people. The Forest Department, informed by the local people, immediately rushed a team of foresters to the site, said N. Sudheer, Divisional Forest Officer, Malayattoor.

The foresters tried to calm down the baby elephant as it tried in vain to steal out of its trap through all of Tuesday. Since the presence of a specialist was needed, the Forest Department waited for the expert to arrive. Arun Zachariah, the specialist immediately available to the department, was rushed all the way from Wayanad overnight to attend to the situation.

Dr. Zachariah, who oversaw the rescue operations along with other the department officials and police personnel from the Kuruppumpady and Kottappara police stations, said the baby elephant did not sustain any major injuries. The only injuries were scratches on its forehead and sides caused by its efforts to get out of the well.

It is a calf, said Dr. Zachariah who also administered a small dose of tranquilliser to calm down the baby elephant as it came out of the well, helped by two domesticated elephants Sunitha and Neelakandan from the Kodanadu training centre.

The baby elephant was given a brief shower and helped on to a waiting mini-lorry to be taken to Kodanadu where it will be in protective custody.

Dr. Zachariah said the baby elephant’s parent herd was missing and it was not possible to send it back to the forests.

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