Keonjhar: A one-year-old elephant calf died after accidentally tumbling into an uncovered well in Odisha’s Keonjhar district in the early hours of Friday.
The mishap occurred around 3 am at Kathabaunshuli village, under Sadar forest range when a herd of 10 elephants was passing the area near the village and the young calf slipped and fell into a well owned by local resident Mohan Charan Mohanta while rummaging through his vegetable crops. The well was covered with a tarpaulin sheet spread over wooden planks and used for watering the crops.
Sources said that the herd immediately attempted to rescue the distressed calf. In the frantic effort, loose stones from the well’s upper lining dislodged and plummeted into the depths, striking the calf on the head. The blow is believed to have been fatal, leading to the calf’s death shortly afterward.
On being informed, teams from the Forest Department arrived at the scene and firefighters were called in to retrieve the carcass from the well. The body was subsequently transported for a postmortem to determine the cause of death.Following standard procedures, the remains will be buried at Padmapur nursery, the sources added.
