Forest officials in West Bengal’s Lalgarh forest range in Jhagram district on January 26 morning rescued an elephant calf that had fallen into a dug well. “About 5.45 a.m., the villagers informed that an elephant calf had fallen into a dug well. A tusker and a female elephant were guarding the place,” said Bijay Chakraborty, Additional Divisional Forest Official of Medinipur Forest Division.
In the next three hours, the forest officials and the villagers managed to drive away the two elephants and started rescuing the calf with a JCB machine. “The rescue was completed by 8.45 a.m. The calf is back with herd... There are 15 elephants in the herd, and we are closely monitoring the herd,” Mr. Chakraborty said. The calf was about three months old. The videos of the two elephants guarding the dug well and the rescue of the calf have gone viral on social media.
The south Bengal forest with very fragment forest and agricultural fields around the forest is home to about 150 to 180 elephants and records one of highest number of human elephant conflict in India.
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Pangolin rescued, three arrested
In another development, late on Monday evening, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Barasat Forest Range rescued a pangolin at Newtown bus stand. Three persons were arrested for smuggling the animal. Pangolins are the most smuggled mammals across the world.