An elephant calf, estimated to be around three months old, that had stumbled into a water tank in a village near here, was rescued and reunited with its herd on Wednesday by the Forest Department.
According to sources, the owner of a farm, located around 25 metres from the Palakkad Road in Ettimadai, spotted an elephant herd comprising three elephants, during the early hours of the day. Sometime later, they retreated into the nearby forests.
Upon investigation, he found that the male calf had fallen into a ground-level water tank, about 1.5 metres deep, in his farm.
He alerted the Forest Department, which sent a team head by Dinesh, Forest Ranger (Coimbatore and Booluvampatti).
They reached the spot around 6.30am and began digging a trench around the tank. Then, they broke down a portion of the tank, which enabled the calf to climb out around 9.30am.
It went to the boundary of the nearby forest and began trumpeting all day. It rejoined its herd around 6pm, till which time Forest Department personnel were monitoring the situation.