Tamil Nadu Forest Guard Saves Baby Elephant By Carrying On His Shoulders; Post Goes Viral!

Amid the coronavirus outbreak and crisis, a heartwarming story is currently going viral, where a forest guard in Tamil Nadu saved a baby elephant by lifting it out of a ditch. After rescuing it, the man even carried it on his shoulders to reunite it with its mother. 

This incident took place in December 2017, but has resurfaced on social media recently and is winning hearts again. The forest guard has been identified as, Palanichamy Sarathkumar, who carried the baby elephant weighing more than him. 

This old photo and tweet was shared by Indian Forest Services officer Dipika Bajpai, who captioned the photo saying, "Flashback pic. Rescue of an elephant calf by a forest guard from TamilNadu made news. Mr. Palanichamy carried the half on his shoulders which had fallen into a ditch. The calf was later united with its mother."

Soon after the photo being shared, it is currently making headlines while many are thanking the forest guard for his work.    

As per a BBC report, the forest guard, Sarathkumar was part of a forest team which was stationed near Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu. Further explaining about the incident, on December 12, 2017, he received a call from few officials complaining about a female elephant blocking a road. 

With immediate effect, he and his colleagues reached the spot and drove the elephant away and searched the area for more elephants. During their search operation, they found a baby elephant stuck in a ditch. 

While speaking to media, the forest guard said, "We saw this calf stuck inside a small ditch. It was tired and confused so we moved a big boulder that was blocking its way and brought it out. Initially four of us carried the calf. We wanted to take it to the other side of the road to reunite it with its mother. But there was a danger of being attacked as she was still nearby." 

So, the forest guard decided he alone would carry it and reunite the baby elephant with its mother.

Somehow, he managed and carried the calf which was weighed over a 100 kgs on his shoulders. After walking for about 50 metres, he put the calf down near a watering hole, where it reunited with its mother. 

Check out the post below:

Flashback pic. Rescue of an elephant calf by a forest guard from TamilNadu made news. Mr. Palanichamy carried the half on his shoulders which had fallen into a ditch. The calf was later united with its mother. pic.twitter.com/VKqbD3hrc0

— Dipika Bajpai (@dipika_bajpai) April 13, 2020