Elephant trapped in water tank rescued

A wild elephant calf trapped in a water tank in eastern India was rescued by the army, news reports said yesterday. A herd of wild elephants was passing an army camp in a forested area of West Bengal on Tuesday when the calf fell into a concrete water reservoir, NDTV news channel reported. The three-year-old female elephant managed to clamber out of the water tank after army and forest officials used a bulldozer to tear down part of the reservoir’s wall, NDTV reported. The animal escaped into the jungle as soon as it was free, forest officials said. lA herd of wild elephants brought down four tribal houses in Chhattisgarh before gate crashing into a government primary school and partying on food stored for mid-day meals to students, a forest official said.The incident took place on August 28 at Maheshpur in Surguja district, around 380km north of state capital Raipur, an area that has come to be known in the last decade for its man-elephant conflict that has claimed several lives.“A herd of five wild elephants sneaked into Maheshpur from a forested stretch of Hariharpur and brought down four houses of tribal residents in the night,” the official said. “They then demolished a portion of a primary school building including the mid-day meal kitchen.” He said the jumbos ate about 30kg rice meant for the mid-day meal scheme. It was stocked in a room near the kitchen shed.The jumbos were still camping in the area and local residents have urged foresters to make immediate arrangements to flush them out.Chhattisgarh Forest Minister Vikram Usendi admitted that about 103 wild jumbos were roaming in the state.Chhattisgarh’s northern region - comprising Surguja, Jashpur, Koria, Korba and Raigarh districts - regularly witnesses man-elephant conflicts. Dozens of people have been killed by wild elephants since 2005.The state government annually pays villagers in the northern region millions of rupees in compensation for the loss of human lives and the damage caused to homes and crops.India has a population of 20,000 to 25,000 wild elephants but deforestation, poaching and encroachment by villagers often lead them to stray from their shrinking habitat. An elephant task force set up by the federal government recommended in 2010 that wild elephants be given protection similar to that of tigers.