BHOPAL: The fear of being drowned in a well led a tigress and its potential prey, a wild boar, to turn friends for survival, before being rescued in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district.
The rare sight which was captured on camera took place on Tuesday in the state’s Pench Tiger Reserve – which is also famous as the inspiration for the Jungle Book.
It was at around 8.30 am that the sub-adult tigress and the wild boar it was chasing fell into a well in Hardua village (on the boundary of Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) and South Seoni territorial forests) in Seoni district.
On being alerted, a rescue team headed by PTR’s veterinary doctor Dr Akhilesh Mishra rushed to the site and started the rescue operations.
The option of tranquilizing the three-year-old tigress before its rescue wasn’t viable, as it could have led to the drowning of the big cat once it turned unconscious. Subsequently, a cot was lowered into the well, making the tigress (which had become tired while swimming to save its life in the well) sit on it for comfort.
Seeing the tiger perched on the cot, the potential prey wild boar took support on the tigress’s back for some time, before a big cage was sent into the well followed by the rescue of the tigress and the wild boar one after another, using a hydraulic crane.
“The entire operation of rescuing the tigress and wild boar one after another spanned around three hours. The rescue started at around 9.30 am and successfully ended at around 12.30 pm,” PTR’s deputy director Rajnish Kumar Singh told The New Indian Express.
Around 60 rescuers were involved in the operation to save the two wild animals.
Madhya Pradesh's Chief Wildlife Conservator directed that the tiger be released in the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary under the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve of Sagar district, Singh added.