Calf trapped between boulders, anxious mother elephant chases rescuers

Calf trapped between boulders, anxious mother elephant chases rescuers

VIDEO Link:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q_be66XUkw&t=6s

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.”