GREEN MINUTE NEWS:
It was a herculean task for the forest staff of the Karnataka Forest Department when they successfully rescued a wild tusker in Sullia taluk, Mangaluru district of Karnataka on Monday. The entire operation took nearly six hours to safely remove the elephant without causing any injury or any risk to the elephant’s life.
This is not the first time in Karnataka that wild animals like elephants and leopards have fallen into deep and open wells. The Forest Minister should initiate measures to ensure that all abandoned, open wells in the state are covered.
The Karnataka Forest Department personnel conducted this operation which took almost 6 hours to rescue this wild tusker that had fallen a night before into an open well near Peraje, Sullia taluk in Mangaluru district. Later, the tusker moved away towards the Poomale Reserve Forest
This 20-23-year-old elephant fell in an abandoned, open well situated on the edge of an arecanut plantation owned by Rama Naik at Kalcharpe in Peraje, Sullia taluk. It is reported that the tusker fell around 11.30 pm on April 12 when it came in search of food out of the nearby forest.
The plantation family members immediately informed the forest officials of the incident. However, forest staff maintained an all-night vigil around the open well to ensure safety of the young, distressed male elephant.
Since it was a dry, unsued and open well going up to a depth of more than 25 feet, it was decided to create a steady ramp from the deep well to the ground, said Puttur Range Forest Officer, Kiran B M.
The rescue operations started around 7-8 am and was completed by 12.45 pm. In fact, mud was excavated almost to the level of the tusker’s shoulders and this took time so that the tusker was protected.
Speaking to Green Minute News, the Puttur RFO said, “The forest staff used the excavator equipment in such a way that it did not disturb the elephant as it was holed up in the well since last night for more than 8 hours. Gradually, an escape path was dug up for the tusker to come out safely out of the open well.”
The taluk veterinary officer Nitin Prabhu, Mangaluru Circle veterinary doctor Yassavi Naravi, Dr Meghana and team were involved in the operations and they were regularly keeping a check to ensure the safety of this young elephant.
The distressed elephant was regularly provided with water, sugarcane and banana as it had fallen a day before and had spent a very restless night, trumpeting again and again.
With crowds gathered around the ongoing rescue operations, it was a difficult task for the senior forest officials and Elephant Task Force as they surveyed, mapped and came out with a full proof rescue plan. Finally, a safe corridor was created for the tusker to walk out from the trench and on to the ramp and then to the forests.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when the tusker safely moved towards the Poomale Reserve Forest, Sullia Range, Mangaluru division, guided by the experienced forest staff.
But before this, it had given heart-stopping moments for the forest staff when it surged forward towards the plantation area where crowds panicked as they had been eagerly trying to take a peek without realizing the risks involved in such a rescue operation. But the forest staff used fire crackers to drive the tusker towards the forest from where it had wandered off.
Under the guidance of Mangaluru CCF Karikalan V, DCF Anthony Mariyappa, ACF Subbayya Naik, Prashanth Kumar Pai, probationary DCF Sanketh Adhav, RFOs Kiran B M and Vimal Babu, and other staff of Sullia, Subramanya, Panja and Puttur, the operations were carried out.
Further, the Elephant Task Force team of Mangaluru division were also involved in the rescue operations that started around 7 am on Monday, April 13.
Nearly 100 personnel including police, fire department, etc were involved in the operation not only for maintaining an all-night vigil, and rescue operations but also in controlling the crowd of people who had surrounded the entire plantation area.
(PHOTO CREDIT: ALL IMAGES PROVIDED BY KARNATAKA FOREST DEPARTMENT)