A 45-year-old male elephant, which was stuck in a dam on the outskirts of Bengaluru for over 50 days with a fractured leg, was on Friday brought out of the dam. The tusker fractured its right leg after falling in a ditch near Dodderi village in early September while traversing a migratory path between Banerghatta National Park and the Savandurga forest.
Unable to walk with its broken leg, the elephant has spent much of its time in the last few weeks floating around in the backwaters of Manchanabele Dam, around 35 km from Bengaluru. Experts from Assam and Kerala had to be called to help treat the elephant.
Veterinarians Kushal Kumar Sharma from Guwahati and Arun Zakaria from Kerala and three others from Karnataka accessed Sidda Friday with the help of two other tuskers from the elephant camp at Dubare.
The elephants helped forest officials move Sidda out of the dam and into an open field. The elephant was given a shot of anaesthesia before the doctors obtained an X-ray of the fractured leg to decide the course of treatment.
According to Sharma, Sidda’s right foreleg has broken in the middle and healing has been delayed as the injuredspot is infected. “The exact nature of the wound will be known by Saturday. The elephant will be treated here,” said a senior forest official.