A female elephant trapped in the Ken river water in Madhya Pradesh's Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) has been rescued, officials said on Sunday. The incident took place on Thursday, they said, adding the stranded jumbo managed to keep its trunk up for breathing and was rescued after a four-hour operation.
PTR's deputy director Ripudaman Singh Bhadoria said information was received on Thursday that a female elephant got trapped in the Ken river water flow in Madla area of the reserve. The elephant's legs were tied with a chain and it was making the rescue difficult. But, the jumbo managed to keep its trunk up to breathe, he said.
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Bhadoria said he contacted the collectors of Panna and neighbouring Chhatarpur district for help and they responded immediately by sending the State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF) and Home Guard teams. But, it was difficult for the rescue teams to anchor their boats due to the intense river water flow, he said.
The SDERF teams used another boat to anchor their boat. They then cut the chains tied to the elephant's legs, he said. It took almost four hours to rescue the elephant and its health is now fine, the official said.
Panna Collector Harjinder Singh said the PTR officials had informed the district administration about the situation. Rescue teams from Panna and Chhatarpur district were able to save the elephant despite all odds, he said.
