Keonjhar: A one-year-old female elephant calf died after falling into an open well in Kathabaunshuli village under Sadar range in the district late on Thursday night.According to sources, the calf, part of a 10-member herd, had entered the garden of local resident Mohan Charan Mohanta to feed on vegetables when it suddenly slipped into the deep open well. The mother elephant and other herd members tried in vain to rescue the trapped calf, reportedly circling the well for hours.
Later in the early hours of Friday, forest staff drove the elephants away using sound crackers to facilitate the rescue operation. Fire brigade personnel then entered the well using a ladder, tied a rope around the calf and lifted it up with a hydra machine. The calf, which had incurred severe injuries, however, was declared dead.Keonjhar Sadar range officer Ajit Das said stones from the well’s wall fell on the trapped animal because of the mother elephant’s frantic efforts to save her calf. “The calf sustained injuries as a large stone fell on it when the mother tried to break the well, which had only 5-6 feet of water. The calf could have survived had the structure not collapsed,” he said.After the operation, the carcass was taken in a tractor to Mega Nursery Complex in Padmapur, Sadar block, for postmortem, in the presence of veterinarians and senior officials, before being buried.Two wild boars had died recently after falling into an open well in Champua range. With shrinking forest cover due to mining and deforestation, along with fires, wild animals are increasingly straying into human settlements in search of food, often leading to such fatal incidents, sources said.
