COIMBATORE: A wild elephant calf that fell into a 12-foot-deep drinking water tank at the Villonie Estate in Valparai in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) has been rescued.
The forest department staff were stunned as the mother elephant, along with another female elephant, refused to move away from near the tank and was present during the whole rescue operation that lasted more than seven hours.
The coffee estate staff came to know about the fall hearing the constant trumpeting of elephants. The mother elephant was seen trying to rescue the calf, aged three to four years, using the trunk.
It fell into the tank at 6 am, and the rescue team completed the operation at 1.30pm. The calf survived though the tank had water eight feet deep.
An Anti-Depredation Squad (ADS) and the field staff of the forest department engaged an earthmover to demolish a part of the concrete wall of the tank to help the animal come out on its own. It walked away with its mother as soon as it emerged from the tank.
"We drained the water from the tank to alleviate the distress of the elephant. Bushes were cleared for 1.5 km to reach the tank as there is no proper road in the estate," said a forest department official.
"After demolishing the tank on one side, we filled soil in it to help the calf to emerge easily on its own. It came out at 1.30pm. We had kept first-aid kits and medicines ready as a precautionary measure. However, the animal went briskly along with its herd," the official added.