On the morning of January 3, a female elephant that a forest team had rescued from a well in a Kozhikode village, passed away. It was on New Year’s Day that the forest officials from the Thamarassery range rescued the elephant, which appears to have fallen into the well in Anakkampoyil near Thiruvambady a day or two ago. The reason for the death could only be confirmed once the postmortem is over, but the elephant is suspected to have died of either dehydration or internal injuries. The elephant is less than 20 years of age.
"It was on the evening of December 31 that someone noticed the elephant that had fallen into the well of a private compound, belonging to a man called Shaji Abraham. The house is less than 500 metres away from the nearby forest and the elephant must have wandered out," says Sudheer Neroth, Thamarassery range forest officer.
The officials arranged rescue operations by means of a JCB machine to break down the well that was about 11 meters deep, and lift out the elephant by the evening of January 1. "The elephant came out of the well and moved a few meters away. However, on the morning of January 2, when we checked, the elephant appeared weak and we called Dr Arun Zachariah from Wayanad," Sudheer says.
Dr Arun, chief forest veterinary officer in Wayanad, and his team provided treatment for the elephant which seemed highly dehydrated. "The well was about 30 feet deep and the elephant might have fallen two to three days ago and become dehydrated. It could also be internal injuries and organ failure from the fall. However, after treatment on January 2, the animal had stood up by Saturday evening and was fed well. But on Sunday morning, the elephant passed away," Dr Arun says.