Five-hour reservoir rescue for jumbos - Foresters break water tank wall to bring out two calves & two adult females

The water reservoir in which the elephants fell on Wednesday night. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

TT, Alipurduar, Jan. 8: Two elephant calves and two adult females fell into a reservoir in Dhumchipara Tea Estate last night and could come out of it after five hours when foresters broke the concrete wall on one side of the tank.

Forest sources said a herd of 20-odd elephants was crossing the tea garden in Madarihat, 65km from here, around 1am.

The two calves fell into the reservoir and the adult females, possibly their mothers, got into the reservoir to rescue them but got stuck.

Garden night guards Dipak Oraon and Rabin Kheria, who were sitting in a room near the tank, alerted the tea garden officials who contacted the Madarihat elephant squad.

“We heard a sound. It seemed like someone was in the water. We went near the reservoir with a torch and saw four elephants inside it. The adult elephants used their trunks to try and help the calves stay afloat. We immediately called the garden manager,” Dipak said.

The elephant squad members along with range officer Samar Chaki reached the spot and saw two adult elephants standing in front of the reservoir. The animals were somehow chased into the nearby Dhumchi forest.

“After the elephants moved away, a pay loader was brought from the tea garden and one side of the reservoir wall was crushed. After some time, the four elephants came out of the water. The garden management helped us a lot,” Chaki said.

Sources said the tank measured about 15ft by10ft and is around 20ft deep. The boundary walls were 4ft high.

While foresters were trying to get the animals out of the tank, the herd stayed at a distance near Dhumchi forest.

Chaki said the four elephants got out of the tank and three walked towards the forest in the direction of the herd. But one calf could not walk much.

“We lit a fire and kept the calf near it and around 6am, we managed to send it towards the herd. The elephants are still in the Dhumchi forest. The whole rescue took around five hours,” he said.

Anand Pathak, the assistant manager of Dhumchipara garden, said: “We put up lights near the water tank and the foresters had also got lights to conduct the operation.”