COIMBATORE: A female wild elephant found struggling to move with an iron wire snare lodged in its foreleg was successfully treated by the forest department in the Sirumugai Forest Range in Coimbatore.

Front-line staff of the department spotted the distressed elephant on September 2 in the Uliyur beat of the Pethikuttai area in the Sirumugai Forest Range.

The animal was having difficulty moving after a fence wire became embedded in its foreleg.

Subsequently, the forest department took efforts to locate, immobilise and treat the elephant in its natural habitat.

Under the supervision of District Forest Officer N Venkatesh Prabhu, veterinary teams from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), along with around 60 forest department personnel, were deployed for the rescue and monitoring operation.

“Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras were also used to track the elephant’s movements and locate it in the forest terrain. After continuous surveillance, the elephant was located in the early hours of Monday. It was brought under the influence of sedation with a tranquiliser dart, following which the veterinary team removed the wire from its foreleg. Its wounds were then cleaned, and medicine was applied,” said an official.

As the elephant soon began to show signs of recovery, it was allowed to return to the forest cover.

Still, a team of forest department staff has been deployed to closely monitor the elephant’s movements until its complete recovery.