A tranquillised wild female elephant lies on the ground after being pulled from a pond by Bangladesh forest officials Credit: AFP / Getty
An elephant has been saved from drowning in Bangladesh after it became separated from its herd by severe floods.
The exhausted elephant is thought to have travelled 1,000km from India into Bangladesh during the traumatic ordeal, AFP reports.
Villagers came to the distressed animal’s rescue after it ran amok and fell into a deep pond when it was hit with a tranquiliser dart.
“Hundreds of villagers came to its rescue when they saw the elephant had lost consciousness,” veterinarian Sayed Hossain told AFP from the scene.
“Dozens jumped into the pond and helped us tie the animal with ropes and chains. And finally, with the help of hundreds of villagers, we were able to pull it to dry ground.”
Bangladeshi villagers assist forest officials in tying ropes on a wild female elephant Credit: AFP / Getty
Torrential monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding in Assam state, with more than a million people affected by the flooding.
Officials hope they can eventually take the elephant, found to be so weak she could not even lift her trunk, to a safari park where it can fully recover.
“Since there is no paved road nearby, we’ll keep the animal here and give it medicines and food,” Tapan Kumar Dey, who is part of the team, told AFP.
“Once it regains strength, we’ll use mahouts (elephant handlers) and a domesticated elephant to lead it to a paved road from where it’ll be transported to a safari park.”
A tranquillised wild female elephant lies on the ground after being pulled from a pond Credit: AFP / Getty
Another of the team said: “It is so weak that it can’t even lift its trunk. You can see her ribs from a distance.”
Last month, these baby rhinos were saved from a national park in northeastern India.
Scores of people die every year from flooding and landslides during the monsoon rains in India and neighbouring Nepal and Bangladesh.