The settlers of the Chettyalathur, a lonely settlement inside the Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary (WWLS) nearly 14 kilometers away from the nearest town Chethalayam, was witness to a jumbo rescue effort on Thursday morning after a lone wild tusker was trapped in to a marshy land.
Though the villagers and the forest personnel tried to pull out the tusker from the marshy land, they could not win the attempt, as both the hind legs of the pachyderm were got paralyzed.
K.V. Sreevalsan, Wild life warden WWLS told The Hindu on Thursday that the villagers found the wild tusker, aged nearly 30, which got trapped in the marshy land near the Chettyalathur School on Wednesday night.
A team of veterinary doctors including N. Kalaivanan, forest veterinary surgeon, Muthumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamilnadu ; Arun Zachariah, forest veterinary surgeon, WWLS ; Sunil Kumar, forest veterinary surgeon, Konni ; Shyam Venugopal, Associate professor (surgery), Veterinary College, Mannuthy and P.T. Dinnesh , Assistant professor (surgery) Veterinary college Pookode reached the site on Thursday and applied medicines to the animal .
The lone tusker had been sighted in that area a few weeks ago and it was suffering from a fracture on its right hind leg at that time but it was managed to walk, Dr Zachariah said after applied medicines to the pachyderm.
But when the animal got trapped in the marshy land the left hind leg also paralyzed, he said. Owing to the concussion of the vertebral column it could not move both hind legs, Dr. Zachariah said. Mr.Sreevalsan said that the animal under the observation and depending upon the response of the animal further treatment would decide on Friday.
The rescue operations cold not complete as both the hind legs of the animal got paralyze after the incident, Mr. Sreevalsan said. As a marshy area it is difficult to lift the tusker by using mechanical devices such as crane, he added .But the rescue operations would continue on Friday, he added.
