Coimbatore: Efforts are on to rescue a 10-year-old male elephant calf that fell into a well at Periyanaickenpalayam near Govanur late on Tuesday. Forest officials began the rescue operation on Wednesday morning, but due to the depth of the well and the aggressive behaviour of the calf it could not be completed by Wednesday night. Many wild elephants also began entering the area after dark.
Villagers at Palamalai and Thirumaallur saw hectic activity around 10 am on Wednesday when forest officers and media began descending on the area and trekking deep into a spot which is covered with the invasive karuvelam trees. When they found out that it was an operation to rescue an elephant calf, the public too began trekking to the spot to get a glimpse of the elephant and click pictures.
Forest officers who were patrolling the area around Thirumallur, which sees heavy wild elephant movement after dark, heard the cries of an animal in distress on Tuesday evening. A couple of hours later, they found an elephant calf fallen inside a deep well. “They informed other forest rangers on Wednesday, after which we reached the spot at around 10 am and began rescue operations,” said Periyanaickenpalayam forest ranger Palanivel Raja.
The forest officers said the depth of the well was delaying operations. “The well, which is deep inside a forest land owned by a farmer named Soundarajan, is 70 ft deep. The well as such is 45 ft deep, and but there is a sand pit around it which is 30 ft deep,” said Raja. “We are now trying to pour a lot of water into the sand pit to make an incline so we can drive a rescue vehicle to the spot where the sand pit starts,” he said. “It will take another 12 hours,” he said on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the calf was being fed water and fruits along with medicines hidden inside jackfruits to ensure the animal is well-fed, hydrated and has energy, said Raja. They hope to complete the operation by Thursday morning.
Date:23-3-2017
