In Pictures: Wildlife officers rescue baby elephant

A group of officers attached to the Thanthirimale office of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) have managed to rescue an elephant calf aged about one-and-a-half to two months, that had fallen into a deep hole filled with water. 

The inicdent occurred on Monday (28). The officers had been traveling through the area on their way for some other work when they had heard the cries of an elephant calf. Upon further examination, they had seen the calf that had fallen into the hole. The officers had also observed the mother of the elephant calf standing nearby trying to get her calf out of the hole. 

It is suspected that the she-elephant and her calf had been drinking water from the hole the day before (27) when the calf had slipped and fallen into the hole. 

The officers took steps to evict the she-elephant from the location and then managed to get her calf out of the hole after much effort.  

Text and Pix by Jayaratne Wickramaarachchi in Karuwalagaswewa