Kochi | After several hours of effort on Friday, the forest department and the police jointly rescued a wild elephant that had fallen into a well inside a private rubber plantation near the forested areas of Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district.

The forest department officials and the local police dug a path out of the well, which had no walls, using an excavator and rescued the wild tusker that fell into the well in the morning.

TV channels showed the visual of the elephant running away towards the forest after climbing out of the well.

Earlier local residents of the area protested against the forest officials, stating that the animal incursions into human settlements are a common occurrence these days and a permanent solution needs to be found. Police removed the protestors from the area.

The local people demanded that the elephant be tranquilised and shifted to another part of the forest rather than letting it loose in the same region.

However, the police and forest officials dug up a path from the well after cordoning off the area, and let the animal go back into the woods.