Elephants in stand-off with villagers as herd refuses to abandon injured calf that fell into a ditch in India, suffering fatal wounds
- WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT
- Elephant calf fell in ditch dug by railway company in India and could not get out
- Villagers tried to rescue the one-year-old but it could not be hauled from the pit
- Whole herd refused to leave the injured baby elephant and waited by the ditch
- Forest department could only pull its bead body from trench the next morning
A herd of elephants refused to abandon an injured calf that fell into a ditch in India and could not get out.
The baby elephant accidentally slipped into a deep railway trench and could not climb out as the group walked at night near the village of Mahipani in north-western India.
The male calf fell into the pit on Wednesday night at around 11.30pm as the group walked across the tracks.
After the accident, the whole herd refused to leave as the one-year-old was still alive and struggling to get out.
The one-year-old calf died after falling into a ditch dug by a railway company in the village of Mahipani in north-western India
The whole herd of elephants stood by the ditch and some even tried to haul the calf from the trench but they could not grip the injured animal
Members of the herd, which local media says were around 17 elephants, even tried to pull the calf from the pit but could not get hold of it as the trench was filled with mud and slush.
Worried residents used torches to try and scare the huge animals away over fears they would enter the village.
When one of the elephants looked like it was about to run towards the village, locals began throwing stones in its direction.
The angry elephants initially would not leave the area, which delayed the rescue attempt by the forest department.
But after a few hours of pacing up and down, the concerned elephants left and went back into the forest.
As the angry elephants would not leave the calf’s side it delayed the forest department’s rescue attempts
Villagers tired to rescue the injured elephant but the forest department could only haul its dead body from the pit the next morning
The forest department arrived and tried to rescue the distressed animal but could not get it out of the trench.
They had to wait until the morning to recover the dead elephant.
Upset villages observed last rites to the dead elephant to pay their respects.
The divisional forest officer (DFO) ordered the inspection of any part of the railway ditch to make sure the accident does not happen again.