Thirsty jumbo raids buckets in Jhargram

Midnapore: A residential neighbourhood in Jhargram had a jumbo surprise on Wednesday afternoon when an elephant ambled down the street to a public tap and emptied three water buckets.
Thirst quenched, the animal — presumed to be an adult male separated from its herd — quietly made its way back to a forest off NH-6. Video clips of the elephant, recorded on mobile cameras, quickly went viral on social media.
According to residents, the first sighting in Beltala was around 1pm when the elephant had just strayed into the village.Some people tried to chase him away, fearing crop damage, while others informed the forest department. Unperturbed by all the commotion around him, the elephant drank from the buckets and went back to Balibhasa forest from where it had probably come.
“The temperature was around 41°C. The animal was very thirsty. First, it tried to drink directly from the tap. When that didn’t work, it dunked its trunk into the buckets. It later left without causing any trouble,” said a villager.
Forest officials said the elephant seemed to be an adult male separated from its herd. It has been roaming the forest patch near Beltala for the past few days and is being closely watched, they said. Excessive heat and absence of rain have taken a toll on watering holes, which is why the elephant came to the village to quench its thirst, they added.