Golaghat: The Golaghat forest staff today rescued a juvenile male elephant, which had fallen into a trench near the Nambar Reserve Forest in the north-east Indian state of Assam.
The elephant, about 6 years old, had got trapped in a deep trench the previous night, and was struggling to get out, when it was spotted by local people at about 8 AM this morning. As the forest guards were contacted, the local range forest officer, R. Das, moved to the spot and informed the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) staff for help and advice.

On reaching the spot, Mr. Das found the elephant to be healthy and energetic with no external injuries and therefore asked the villagers to dig one side of the pit into a slope to help the animal come out on its own. As soon as the ditch opened up from one side, the juvenile was driven out with almost no effort and it ran into the forest.

Soon after, the CWRC team reached the spot and reviewed the situation. The animal was tracked and it was found to be moving in the direction of sounds from an elephant herd in the deeper recesses of the forest.

“This is a good sign. Golaghat is one of the prime human-elephant conflict areas in Assam. Though wild elephant herds continuously disturb the people, it was encouraging to see their enthusiastic response despite the fact that just a few days ago, wild elephants had raided their paddy fields,” Rathin Burman, CWRC manager said.

The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, was established by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Department of Forest and Environment, Government of Assam, and is supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Located adjacent to the Kaziranga National Park, CWRC has attended to 141 cases till date and has eight animals in its care, including three elephant calves, a wild buffalo and a greater one horned rhino calf, an infant hoolock gibbon and a leopard among others