Forest staff rescue 4 elephants from pond

Bhubaneswar: The forest department on Friday rescued four elephants, including a calf, from a pond dug on private land after nearly three hours of operation in Bantala range under Angul forest division.

Forest officials said the herd of four elephants was trapped accidentally in the pond early in the morning. “The four were separated from a herd of 30 elephants that are frequently seen roaming in the nearby forest close to human habitations. We got information about them around 5.15 am and first sent forest personnel to keep a watch on them before arranging logistics for their rescue,” said DFO (Angul) Nitish Kumar.

Forest officials said the four elephants — three females and a calf, whose sex couldn’t be ascertained — were trying frantically to come out of the pond from all directions, but because of the depth, they failed to do so.

“The pond is about 10ft deep. It was dug for the purpose of fish farming (pisciculture) by a farmer. When we reached the spot, we drew a strategy to bring them out. Then, with permission of higher officials, a ramp was planned to be dug, which would provide a safe passage for them, thus reducing the height of the pond too. While digging, the elephants were feeling stressed, but we created the ramp within an hour,” said deputy range officer Prasanna Sahu.

During the entire operation, villagers were not allowed to come near the pond for two reasons: Disturbance that could further stress the elephants and, second, delay the rescue operation. “We used a megaphone and siren to keep people away,” said Sahu.

The pond was barely 100 metres from the nearby forest and soon after the elephants climbed up using the ramp, they walked into the forest. No further effort was required to drive them away, forest officials said.

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