Elephant calf dies after rolling down slope in Wayanad plantation; CCTV captures herd’s desperate rescue attempt
CCTV footage captured an elephant herd trying to rescue a calf that rolled down a plantation slope in Mananthavady on Sunday. Forest officials later recovered the calf's carcass and buried it.
CCTV footage captured an elephant herd trying to rescue a calf that rolled down a plantation slope in Mananthavady on Sunday. Forest officials later recovered the calf's carcass and buried it.
CCTV footage captured an elephant herd trying to rescue a calf that rolled down a plantation slope in Mananthavady on Sunday. Forest officials later recovered the calf's carcass and buried it.
Mananthavady: Heart-rending visuals of an elephant calf rolling down a steep slope in a plantation, while its mother and other members of the herd desperately attempt to rescue it, have gone viral on social media. The incident occurred on the fringes of the forest at Muthumari, Kattikkulam, near Mananthavady, on Sunday.
CCTV footage from a nearby plantation was retrieved and uploaded on social media only on Monday, drawing widespread attention to the herd’s desperate efforts to save the calf.
The visuals show the elephant calf screaming as it rolls down the slope, while its mother and other elephants in the herd make frantic attempts to reach it. Their loud trumpeting, apparently in response to the calf’s distress, can also be heard in the footage.
The Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the North Wayanad Forest Division reached the spot on Sunday after being alerted about the incident. However, the team could not approach the calf as the herd had gathered around it, apparently attempting to protect and rescue it.
By Monday morning, a joint team of personnel from the Begur Forest Range and the RRT managed to drive the herd back into the forest to gain access to the calf. The elephant calf was subsequently found dead.
According to Forest Department officials, the carcass was taken to a location deep inside the forest and buried.