India: Trapped baby elephant rescued after falling into pit

Forest officials in the eastern Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) rescued a baby elephant after it fell into a pit.

A wildlife researcher said that when villagers saw the baby elephant had separated from its herd, they started shouting.

Forest officials in the eastern Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) rescued a baby elephant after it fell into a pit.

A wildlife researcher said that when villagers saw the baby elephant had separated from its herd, they started shouting.

Alarmed by the commotion, the elephant started running away and fell into a pit.

Forest officials then dug a passage using an excavator to free the elephant.

The numbers of wild Asiatic elephants are falling - the World Wide Fund for Nature says that there are less than 50,000 of them presently found in South and Southeast Asia.

Footage from Reuters

Edited by Anshul Verma