When a forest guard united baby elephant with mother on his shoulder
Chennai : In December 2017, a forest guard in Tamil Nadu had saved the life of a baby elephant by lifting it on his shoulders and uniting him with his mother. The heart whelming story is again making headlines and winning hearts after an IFS officer shared it on social media.
Indian Forest Services officer Dipika Bajpai shared a flashback photo of Palanichamy Sarathkumar carrying the baby elephant that weighed more than him.
The picture had created a buzz that time is now again receiving praise from the people who thanked the forest guard for his act.
Flashback pic. Rescue of an elephant calf by a forest guard from TamilNadu made news. Mr. Palanichamy carried the half on his shoulders which had fallen into a ditch. The calf was later united with its mother. pic.twitter.com/VKqbD3hrc0
— Dipika Bajpai (@dipika_bajpai) April 13, 2020
According to BBC, Sarathkumar was part of a forest team stationed near Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu when, in December 12, 2017, he received a call about a female elephant blocking a road. He and his colleagues drove the elephant away with firecrackers and searched the area for more elephant, which is when they found the calf stuck in a ditch.
"We saw this calf stuck inside a small ditch," said Sarathkumar. "It was tired and confused so we moved a big boulder that was blocking its way and brought it out."
But the baby elephant was too weak to walk, and its mother was nowhere to be found.
"Initially four of us carried the calf," said Sarathkumar. "We wanted to take it to the other side of the road to reunite it with its mother. But there was a danger of being attacked as she was still nearby."
He took the calf on his shoulder and took her to the safety, post which she was united with her mother elephant.
