This is the breathtaking moment when an audacious res.cue effort to save a young elephant from a 25-foot-deep hole is successfully completed.
After the calf fell into a waterhole in Jharkhand, eastern India, villagers devised an amazing strategy to save it.
For two hours, they pumped gallons of water to float the elephant to the top while using a JCB excavator to carve the well’s crest into a ramp. The beast ultimately crawled out onto the ground before lumbering off to be reunited with its herd, much to the delight of the onlookers. The amazing res.cue operation was recorded on video in the little town of Bantoli in the state’s Gumla region.
The enormous grey creature is initially spotted, apparently agitated, rolling about in the shallow water at the bottom of the well. Locals rush to get a hose, which shoots water into the vast f arm well at a painfully slow rate.
The video then turns to the well, which has now been filled – about two hours later, according to local accounts – and the elephant poking its head above the surface. Next to the well is a JCB excavator that has constructed a slope for the elephant to use.
The calf scrabbles its front feet to gain traction on the muddy soil, eventually hauling itself up and over onto the land.
Hundreds of people had gathered by this point to watch and shout as the animal is released.
They scamper backward to escape being trampled by the irritated calf as it heaves itself to safety, then follow after it as it lumbers off to join its herd.
It joins three more elephants walking down a dusty path, surrounded by delighted residents.
