Five wild elephants including three baby elephants which fell into an abandoned agricultural well in Kekirawa this morning were saved and released into a forest reserve by the wildlife conservation officers and the police with the help of the villagers.

The wildlife officers used a backhoe to level the mouth of the well and this made it easy for the elephants to come out of the well.

They said the abandoned well which was about ten feet deep had run dry due to the prolonged drought. 

The elephants which roamed the village at night in search of food had accidently fallen into the unprotected well. Wildlife officials rushed to the scene when informed by the villagers. They said wild elephants often strayed into the human habitats after dusk in search of food which is scarce in the drought affected jungle. Pix by Kanchana Kumara and Kushan Jayawardene