A five-year-old male Indian Gaur weighing around 1.5 tonnes that fell into a farm well near Duraisamypuram in the early hours of Thursday died due to heavy injuries. The rescue team removed the carcass and buried it after post mortem.
The forest officials said that the wild animal had strayed out of the reserve forests in Marakkamalai area for want of water and feed. It lost its route and entered Pottalkalam village last night. When the local people spotted the wild animal at their village in the early hours, they tried to drive it away. But it hid in a maize farm near the village. As it did not come out of the maize field, they burst crackers to scare it.
On hearing the sound, the scared animal ran amok and fell into an 80-foot-deep ground-level well in a coconut farm near Duraisamypuram colony.
Eyewitnesses said that the animal was roaming at Meenakshipuram, Sundararajapuram and nearby areas before coming to Pottalkalam village.
Acting on information, the forest officials inspected the spot and sought help from fire service personnel to rescue the gaur.
Meanwhile the wild animal was struggling to float in the water as the well had water up to 25 feet. After two-hour long struggle, they tied the animal with ropes and pulled it to the surface with the help of local people.
When they brought the gaur to the surface, they found that the animal was dead. It had severe injuries on its body. After post-mortem, the carcass was buried.
