COIMBATORE: A 50-year-old wild elephant that was caught in a slush at a farmland at Karadimadai near the Madukkarai forest range was successfully rescued by the personnel of the Coimbatore forest division on Sunday morning.
The female elephant was earlier found roaming and was said to be sick.
It got trapped in the slush on Sunday at 7:30 am while returning to the Boluvampatti block of the reserve forest.
"We used a JCB vehicle to level the area to facilitate the animal to come out on her own. We also cleared some slush. At 11pm, three hours after the rescue attempt started, the elephant was lifted and placed at a nearby dry place in an attempt to provide treatment," a forest department official said.
"Till Sunday evening we administered more than 20 bottles of drug intravenously to relieve its pain and cure infections as a preventive care," he added.
"The animal is responding well to treatment. If a need arises, we will take a blood sample to check for diseases. We are closely monitoring its health.More than 30 staff are engaged," he further said.
"It seems the animal is sick, and that's why it was approaching the grove. We will know the animal's health soon," said the official. "It consumed banana and watermelon and quenched its thirst well after rescue. It started standing on its own and walked for some distance with the support of the crane belt used to lift it."
The owner of the grove where the elephant got bogged down alleged that the elephant had been approaching his plot for the last three days, but the forest department did not intervene.
The place is 1.7 km from the Boluvampatti Block I reserve forest.
Sloth bear attacks Jharkhand youth
Meanwhile, a 21-year-old native of Jharkhand was injured in a sloth bear attack at the CDR Estate in Valparai on Sunday morning. Dhomtho Murumu was spraying pesticide on the tea fields at 7:50 am when he came under attack. According to forest department sources, he has injuries on his head, hand, and leg and is undergoing treatment at Pollachi Government Hospital. "We have been monitoring the sloth bear movement to prevent further negative human-sloth bear interactions," said an official.