Wild Tusker Rescued from well

PATHANAMTHITTA: A 13-year old wild elephant, which fell into a well of a household, at Thoombakulam in Thekkuthode under Ranni forest division on Tuesday late night, was rescued by the forest protection force personnel with the assistance of local people on Wednesday afternoon.

The elephant, which was part of a herd of wild elephants trespassed into a settlement area here, fell into the 20-foot well of Somarajan of Chandrakone at 11.45 pm on Tuesday. On finding the elephant in the well, Somarajan alerted the people of the area and in turn informed the forest protection force personnel.

Led by Ranni DFO Janardhanan, the Forest Department personnel with the deployment of a JCB widened the width of the well.  After a two-hour mission, the elephant escaped from the well and went back to the forest at 5.30 pm.

The forest authorities said the elephant, with hardly any injury mark on the body, was fed with coconut leaf and plantains fruits when it was inside the well.