OOTY: The gritty battle put up by the foresters, assisted by two ‘kumki’ elephants, to save the life of a wild jumbo which fell into a jungle stream and battling for life in the gushing waters, failed to yield dividends, as the wild jumbo died after it was rescued.
The foresters on their rounds on Monday morning spotted a wild jumbo battling for life inside the water in a small jungle stream deep inside the Segur reserve forest area bordering the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
Immediately the foresters and veterinary team from MTR along with two ‘kumki’ elephants trained for rescue works arrived at the spot.
They almost fought a day-long battle inside the woods to rescue the wild jumbo. The two ‘kumki’ elephants, namely Wasim and Vijay, put up a splendid show in lifting the near-fainted wild jumbo from the waters and brought it out on Monday evening. Soon, the Forest department veterinary team began to treat the rescued jumbo which was in a frail state.
But, in an anti-climax, the efforts of the foresters to save the jumbo failed to fructify as it died in the evening. Forest department sources said that it was a near 20-year-old female wild jumbo which could have collapsed during an infighting inside the waters on Sunday night.
“Dislocation of joints and fractures in the hind limbs showed that this jumbo sustained severe injuries after falling down that made its health weak and eventually succumbed to injuries,” sources added.
