Nilgiris:An elephant calf that fell into a 30-feet-deep well in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris district, was rescued by forest department after 11 hours on Wednesday.The calf reportedly got separated from its herd while crossing Pandalur Kurinji Nagar area of ​​Nilgiris last night and fell into the well accidentally.According to officials, locals alerted the village-level teams set up by the forest department. The teams reached the spot at around 8 am and a rescue operation was launched immediately.The team tried to recue the jumbo out of the well with a JCB machine but after three hours of effort a second machine was called in to remove the soil around the well while the calf remained stuck inside the well.
One team was engaged in rescuing the calf and a separate team was deployed for preventing the herd including its mother from coming near the well for its baby.After another three hours of effort, forest department personnel finally pulled out the jumbo calf out of the well with the help of two JCB machines. After being taken out, the calf struggled to stand on its feet and then slowly ran into the forest. Officials said it has now joined its herd.

Supriya Sahu , Chief secretary forest department of Tamil Nadu sharing the story about rescue , writes on X ' A very heartening news is coming in just now about the successful rescue and reunion of a juvenile elephant in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Foresters in Gudalur Forest Division in Nilgiris have successfully rescued a juvenile elephant from a 30 feet deep sand well in a farmland where the young elephant had accidentally fallen.After 8 hours of challenging battle the team succeeded in making a ramp for the elephant to safely walk out of the well. After the rescue the team united the baby elephant with her mother who patiently waited nearby with the herd. Big appreciation to DFO Gudalur, Vengatesh Prabhu who led the operation with a team of 40 people from 3 am onwards'