The Hindu : Two elephant calves rescued from water trough

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Two elephant calves rescued from water trough

By Our Staff Reporter

Coimbatore Feb. 15. Human efforts came when attempts by a herd of elephants to rescue two of its calves failed at Anaikatti today.

In a dramatic operation that lasted for nearly five hours, the forest personnel rescued the just born calves, which fell into a water trough in the early hours of today.

The wild elephants, searching for water, came to the trough maintained by the Coimbatore Zoological Park at Anaikatti. The calves--about 30 and 45 days old--fell into the trough.

The villagers said the herd assiduously tried to pull out the calves and did not allow villagers to come anywhere near the spot. The District Forest Officer, P. Durairasu, despatched a team led by the Corporation Zoo Director and Veterinarian, N.S. Manoharan.

The officials first chased the herd away by beating drums and bursting crackers and then began their o peration.

However, one of the aged mothers refused to leave the place and stayed near the trough.

It later started co-operating with the forest personnel.

The rest of the pachyderms watched the `proceedings' from at about 250 to 300 ft distance.

The co-operation extended by the herd on realising that the efforts were only to rescue the calves was in fact a "thrilling experience", Dr. Manoharan, said.

The calves were hardly three to four ft tall and were struggling to come out of the six-foot deep trough, which had three fourths of water.

The rescue teams mobilised some fencing poles from nearby places and dumped them inside the trough to raise the floor level.

As the calves were able to raise a little above the water level, their mother, which was in the vicinity, lent a `helping' trunk to its calves to come out of the trough.

The herd guided the two back into the jungles, even as the villagers and rescue teams cheered.

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