DIBRUGARH: A trunk call is loaded with meaning – could be an admonitory don’t-mess-with-me, or an SOS. Village headman Hem Chandra Borah froze mid-step around 6.10pm Wednesday as a piercing cry shattered the quiet at Khamjongia in Assam’s Jorhat district – a sound both alien and sorrowful. There was no mistaking it: the elephants were in trouble.
Four wild elephants, including a calf, had strayed from their herd and found themselves trapped in a large, deep pond. The animals thrashed, their efforts to climb slippery slopes thwarted at every turn. With each failed attempt, their trumpeting grew more desperate, and the calf’s distress struck a particularly harrowing chord.
“When we rushed to the site, we found the elephants struggling to climb out. The forest officials suggested waiting for an excavator, but we knew time was critical. Especially for the calf, which was visibly exhausted, waiting wasn’t an option,” Borah said.
Determined to save the animals, the villagers quickly gathered tools such as hoes, shovels, and spades. Men, women, and even children worked tirelessly to dig a makeshift path along the pond’s edge, forming a slope the elephants could use to escape.
Hour by hour, inch by inch, the slope took shape. The calf, shivering and drained, watched from the water’s edge as if sensing the monumental effort being made for its life. By 10.15pm, the young calf scrambled up the slope. The remaining elephants, one after another, followed.
“It was a moment of pure joy when they finally walked free,” said Ujjal Baruah, a resident who participated in the rescue. “Though the elephants were limping, we were relieved to see them without major injuries. If we hadn’t acted quickly, the calf might not have survived the night.”
When the last giant heaved itself onto solid ground, an almost reverent silence fell over the crowd. The elephants, their mud-slicked bodies glistening in the pale light, lingered for a moment as if acknowledging their rescuers. Then, with slow, deliberate steps, they vanished into the dark embrace of the forest.