MYSURU: A 20-year-old elephant that was stuck in slush in the Kachuvinahalli tank in Hunsur taluk was rescued by forest officials with the help of local villagers.
A herd of six elephants slipped out of Nagarhole forest in the night on January 15 and headed towards Hanagodu and Kachuvinhallai tank. Of the six elephants, four returned to the forest while one female elephant got stuck in slush while the other entered a banana plantation belonging to one Yalappa . Villagers, who saw elephant battling for life, alerted local forest personnel who rushed to spot.
The Forest staff brought in tamed elephant Ganesh from a nearby elephant camp for the rescue and sought the co-operation of the villagers to let water from irrigation pumpsets to the slushy area to loosen the soil so that jumbo can come out. The female elephant finally freed itself from the slush and headed into the forest around 2.30 pm. ACFs Prasanna Kumar, Subramanya and Somappa and others supervised the rescue and ensured that the elephant did not sustain injuries.
The villagers said that dried-up watering holes had forced jumbos to venture into nearby fields in search of water. The authorities have sunk borewells inside the forests in the hope that a few ponds will have water. But this may not be enough for the animals, villagers feel.