Wild elephant rescued from canal after three-hour long rescue operation in Karnataka's Mandya

The wild jumbo fell into the canal when it got down to drink water through a 20-feet wide canal gate on Saturday night.

Malavalli (Mandya dist): After more than three hours operation, the Forest department, with the help of the National Disaster Response Force and Police, rescued a wild jumbo that had fallen into the canal of a private power generation plant, near Shivanasamudra, in Malavalli taluk, Mandya district, on Tuesday.

The wild jumbo fell into the canal when it got down to drink water through a 20-feet wide canal gate that supplies water to the private generation plant, on Saturday night.

Due to heavy flow of water the jumbo could not come out. The employees of the plant, who noticed the movements of the jumbo on Sunday evening, informed the Forest department.

The department officials visited the spot on Monday morning and launched the operation using various methods to drive the jumbo out of the canal, but in vain. They fed the jumbo with sugarcane and resumed the operation on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, the Forest department officials brought cranes and resumed the operation.

The Forest department veterinarian darted at the elephant and waited for around half an hour for the jumbo to turn unconscious. Later, with the help of a crane the jumbo was lifted from the canal and rescued.

The jumbo would be given a reverse dart so that it regains consciousness and later released into the forest, according to the department sources.