Elephant calf rescued from well

Tirupati: An elephant calf which accidentally fell into a 25-feet deep dried-up agricultural well near Ramakuppam in Kuppam constituency of Chittoor district was rescued to safety on Sunday. The joint efforts of the forest department officials, the cops and the locals saved the baby elephant.

According to Kuppam forest Ranger Kalappa Naidu, a herd of wild elephants had strayed out of the nearby forests into the farmlands in search of food near Chikkapalle Thanda under Veernamala Panchayat limits in Ramakuppam mandal of Kuppam constituency in the late hours on Saturday night.

An elephant calf from a herd accidentally fell into a 25-foot deep agricultural well near the Chikkapalle Thanda, which resulted in angry tuskers damaging nearby fields. The marauding tuskers damaged crops in about eight acres. The jumbos also uprooted an electric pole.

Meanwhile, the locals of the Chikkapalle Thanda alerted police as well as the forest department officials. The forest officials and the cops rushed to the spot on Sunday morning and by then the herd of elephants returned to the forest. A rescue operation began to take out elephant calf from the well.

A crane was roped in to level the land adjacent to the well and by 10 am, the elephant calf aged about a year walked to safety while hundreds of locals watched in curiosity. It created a flutter in the area as it ran amok for a while creating scare among the people before it was guided to the nearby forest by the forest department staff.