Borjuri, November 5, 2014: Following a spate of recent rescues that resulted in orphaned elephant calves being brought to the IFAW-WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), a juvenile elephant rescued from a trench was immediately returned to the wild. The 10-year-old male elephant from Bhorbeta, Amgurigaon, near Karbi hills under Panbari RF, Kaziranga National Park, Assam was literally dug out from a narrow tea garden trench after which it slowly walked towards the Karbi-Anglong hilly forest area that had recorded the presence of a large number of elephants the night before.

The juvenile elephant stuck in the trench. Photo: Dr Rathin Barman/IFAW-WTI

Early morning on November 02, 2014, the CWRC team received a call about a juvenile elephant fallen upside down in five-feet deep trench that was just two feet wide near the Diphloo tea estate. The helpless animal was screaming with pain and it was believed that it fell in the trench the previous night when its herd tried to sneak into a paddy field nearby. Information gathered from the villagers indicated that the elephant herd had been actively raiding crops in the area since the last few weeks. A CWRC team reached the spot immediately and saw the elephant struggling for its life. The highly experienced team swung into action and without waiting for a JCB, manually dug out the earth from the trench with the help of the Assam Forest Department and local villagers to facilitate the elephant’s movement.

This jointly run facility of the WTI-IFAW and the Assam Forest Department, CWRC and its satellite stations have handled around 3500 displaced wild animals in Assam in the past. “We got a call at about 7:30 am on November 2 from the Kaziranga NP control room and our team reached the spot within half-an-hour,” said Dr. Rathin Barman, Deputy Director, WTI and in-charge, CWRC, who led the rescue team. “The calf was stuck in the trench on its back and was struggling to move. Had the rescue been delayed, it probably would have succumbed in this narrow and deep tea garden ditch,” he added.

“We administered anti-inflammatory and pain relievers to the calf. All rehab protocols were followed in accordance with the large herbivore calf rescue,” said Dr. Panjit Basumatary, Veterinary Surgeon of CWRC. Dr. Biswajeet Boruah, another veterinarian involved in the rescue operation, added, “The animal was healthy. We kept widening the ditch with spades and other locally available equipments.” After about an hour of constant digging to widen the trench, the animal turned dorsal from its upside down position and then slowly got up on its feet. It then gave a mock charge towards the crowd before disappearing in the nearby forest. The people gathered around clapped in joy after watching the calf return to the forest.

Every year many elephants, especially calves, get trapped in the ditches dug around tea gardens during this season and many of them have even succumbed to their injuries. This particular juvenile elephant was lucky to go back to the wild safely.