Staff at Diffloo Tea Estate had heard the trumpeting of a herd of elephants the previous night, and in the early hours of June 6 found the female elephant stuck in a muddy hole in the reserved section of the tea estate known as Diffloo Biodiversity Park. The herd was waiting for her at the top of the hill she was trapped on. (It is not uncommon to see wild elephants getting stuck in bogs, small pits and trenches; being such mammoth animals they become completely helpless, especially when trapped in clay soil.)

The MVS team, comprising veterinarians Dr Samshul Ali and Dr Panjit Basumatary, and animal keepers Tarun Gogoi and Raju Kutum, reached the spot shortly thereafter. The hilly terrain and slippery conditions meant that motor vehicles could not be brought to the rescue site, and to wait for trained ‘Kumki’ elephants would have resulted in an inordinate delay. After much deliberation it was decided that an urgent manual intervention was necessary to help the elephant escape her predicament. “It was our last resort;” Dr Basumatary said later, “no other logistical solution could have helped her in time.”

With the elephant lightly sedated, the MVS team, assisted by frontline forest staff, workers at the tea estate and local volunteers got to work clearing the loose soil around her. Two-and-a-half arduous hours later, as the rescue team attempted to raise her to her feet using a rope, she responded – by getting up and charging at them. One of the local volunteers was injured on his left arm and leg as a consequence; fortunately the MVS team were able to distract the elephant and get the rescue group to safety.

The MVS team and Forest Department personnel immediately transported the injured man to the Bokakhat Civil Hospital, where he is currently undergoing treatment. As for the elephant, having given her rescuers a terrible fright, she ran off into the deep jungle.