COIMBATORE: A male wild elephant aged more than 25 years drowned at a farm well in Solaipadugai near Chadivayal in the wee hours on Thursday.
After two and a half hours of struggle, the elephant carcass was retrieved from the 30-foot well following a joint operation by the staff of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and Fire and Rescue Service Department.
This male elephant was one among the three of a herd that entered into the farmlands in search of water and food on Wednesday night from Chadivayal forest and were roaming in the farmland in the surroundings of Solaipadugai.
“We got information from the farm owner that the animal fell into the well at 3.15 am, and we started operation at 3.45 am. The animal got stuck in the mud inside the well, and we were unable to lift the animal carcass. The height of the well is 30 feet, and water fills up to 20 feet. After two hours, the animal carcass itself was fished out from the well, and we retrieved the carcass at 5.30 am using a crane,” said K Jayachandran, Forest Range officer, Boluvampatti Forest Range.
Subsequently, the carcass was taken to the Siruvani foothill, where a postmortem was performed by Coimbatore Forest Veterinary doctor Vennila.
There were more than 25 members from the Tamil Nadu forest, and Fire and Rescue service personnel were involved in retrieving the animal carcass.
Forest department officials suspect that the animal is new to the Boluvampatti forest range, and it might have come from nearby Kerala.
“All of them in the herd are male elephants, of which two elephants are new to the Boluvampatti forest range, of which one is the victim and the other elephant left inside the forest with the third elephant, which is already roaming in the surroundings of Chadivayal, and we have been tracking already. These two elephants were left inside the reserve forest. We suspect that the victim elephant was unable to find out the route, as it is new to the Boluvampatti forest, while the other elephant, which is also new to the forest, managed to reach the reserve forest with the help of the known elephant,” the official explained.