India: Kerala wild elephant rescued from well after four hours

Thiruvananthapuram: A wild elephant which strayed into human settlement areas near Pooyankuutti in Ernakulam district and fell into a well, was rescued after 4 hours of operations on Wednesday.

Experts said the wild elephant was around even years old.

Forest officials arrived as soon as locals found the elephant in the well in the morning. The local populace was up in arms and staged a protest demanding an assurance from the forest officials that they would either dig trenches or put up an electric fence in the forest areas that lie close to human settlement.

Following the protests, the forest department officials assured the locals that in a matter of six months, they would set up electric fence, which will ward off these wild animals from entering the human settlement areas.

Then the side of the well was broken down which made a way for the elephant to come out of the well.

Soon the elephant walked free and went to the road where a large number of two wheelers of those who came to watch the recovery act were kept.

Expressing its ire, the elephant kicked away two wheelers and jumped the road side fence, entered the free flowing stream, swam across it and walked into the dense forest.

Last month too another wild elephant which strayed from the forest had fallen into a well and was rescued.