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Wild elephant rescued from a well 2 days ago dies in Kerala
The pachyderm was noticed by local people on Thursday evening and a rescue operation was started the next day. It was taken out on Friday night after breaking the well and building a parallel pathway.
The wild elephant which was rescued from a deep well after a 12-hour long operation two days ago in Anakampoil in north Kerala died on Sunday, forest officials said.
After it was saved from the 50-foot deep well, it remained in the area for two days unable to move to the nearby forest. Later small crackers were burst and high beam lights flashed to force it to move to the forest but it remained in the fringe areas..
Forest officials said they tried their best to save the animal which reportedly suffered internal injuries and severe dehydration. They said the exact cause of death will be known after the post-mortem. Local people said the 12-year-old tusker might have been trapped in the unused well for more than three days.
The pachyderm was noticed by local people on Thursday evening and a rescue operation was started the next day. It was taken out on Friday night after breaking the well and building a parallel pathway. “It is really sad it died. Local people, animal lovers and a combined team of forest and revenue officials really toiled to save it. But our joy is short-lived,” said a senior official of the forest department.
Local people said elephants used to frequent the area quite often posing a big threat to human habitat and fencing of the area had just started after repeated protests. At least, 40 families relocated from the area after continuous raid by wild animals but when they left, their wells remained unattended.
The official said some animals need big tracts of land to roam around and feed and farms in fringe areas draw them to it, leading to frequent human-animal conflicts. According to statistics with the forest department, 24 people have died in elephant attacks last year.
