Madikeri: Five elephants rescued from an artificial tank in Virajpet

Madikeri: A family of five elephants, all of them cows (female), had a harrowing time on Tuesday, after they got trapped in an artificial tank in a private coffee plantation at Palangala village of Virajpet taluk in Madikeri.

Forest officials had to use an earth mover and it took nearly three hours to rescue them. The elephants entered the tank to probably to quench their thirst. Forest officials suspect one of them might have slipped into the tank and the others in their bid to rescue it may have got trapped in the slush filled tank. Deputy Conservator of Forests, Virajpet, Maria Christu Raja told Deccan Chronicle that using an earthmover they created a ramp like path to help the trapped elephants climb to safety.

The operation to rescue the trapped elephants was over by 11 am, while they got the call at around 8 am. The rescue operation was hampered for a while when villagers vented out their anger against forest officials over the problem of elephants entering human habitats. This hampered the rescue operation by about one-and-a-half hours. Raja persuaded the villagers to allow them to rescue the trapped animals and expressed willingness to discuss the steps initiated by forest department in controlling elephant menace and prevent human-animal conflicts. The artificial tank had only three feet of water and hence not enough to drown the animals. The private coffee plantation is surrounded by Makuta territorial forest and is located close to Devara Kadu.