Lesson from Kerala floods : Human activities, climate change has disastrous effects on environment Sagaya Fernando Mumbai: 19 October 2021 Overexploitation of natural resources and haphazard development by humans has led to climate change, resulting in long-lasting consequences on the environment. This is increasing health hazards and natural disasters, and more, day by day. The torrential flooding being witnessed recently in the state of Kerala in India is a prime example of this, say many experts. This is not the first time that Kerala, a state of 34 million people, has been devastated by floods. It saw the worst floods in a century in 2018 when severe rains caused flash floods and landslides, killing nearly 500 people and leaving a million homeless. The following year, more than 125 people were killed in flash floods and landslides across the state. More than 50 were killed in August last year after landslides struck the hilly Munnar region. The latest spell of torrential
Calf trapped between boulders, anxious mother elephant chases rescuers
VIDEO Link:-
Sagaya Fernando
Mumbai: 4 February 2020
An elephant calf walking downhill in the Sonai Kushi Reserve Forest in the North-Eastern state of Assam in India, with its mother got wedged between two boulders. Unable to free its calf, the mother elephant hovered around nearby and kept on trumpeting not knowing what to do.
The incident took place at Nakhola village near Jagiroad on February 1 evening. Hearing the trumpet sounds, villagers probed the situation and found the calf stuck between the boulders, and informed the wildlife officials.
“We received information at around 5 pm on February 1 that an elephant calf had got trapped between two boulders. As the sun had already set and it was not possible to carry out rescue efforts in the dark, we initiated the rescue efforts on next day morning. The mother elephant lingering close by was also impeding the rescue efforts. After firing shots in the air to disperse the mother elephant, our staff with the help of local villagers roped the calf and able to free it. The whole exercise took over eight hours and concluded at around 4 pm, as the danger of being attacked by the mother elephant was constant,” informed Beat Forest Officer Shivlal Chandra Bora.
He added, “Initially we had planned to break the boulders using an excavator which was brought to the site. But, with the help of the villagers, the calf was roped and rescued without using any heavy machinery. The calf is about 7 to 8 months old. During the rescue operation, bananas were fed to the distressed calf. And, once it was freed, the calf made a straight run to its mother waiting nearby.”
Comments
Post a Comment