A day after being rescued from a defunct well by forest personnel, a tusker died today in Mayurbhanj district due to critical injuries sustained in the fall, despite efforts by experts to save it.
The pachyderm could not be saved despite all efforts by experts, Divisional Forest Officer (Baripada) Sanjay Swain said.
Veterinary surgeons and experts from Nandankanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology and Similipal Tiger Reserve tried their best to save the animal, he said.
The pachyderm was tranquilised and pulled out of the 30-feet deep well, in which it had fallen, with the help of a heavy crane near village Dubuasahi under Dukuda range of Baripada forest division yesterday, Swain said.
A herd of about 25 elephants from the Similipal sanctuary had apparently entered the area in search of food. While the tusker fell into the abandoned well on Tuesday night, other elephants left for the sanctuary, the DFO said.
A postmortem on the elephant would be conducted tomorrow, he said.
