Helping a Sister Out of a Pit

Unlike cattle, who make a lot of noise when they move about, elephants are extraordinarily quiet when walking. Like ballerinas, elephants literally walk on their toes. In addition, the feet of elephants are heavily padded, that same huge ball of fat — the digital cushion that lets them hear subterranean sounds — being the source of that padding. This elastic spongy cushion not only acts as a shock absorber as elephants walk over terrain, it also expands when they walk, muffling the sound of their footsteps, even when walking on branches and leaves. 

To avoid the elephants or myself any potential problems caused by an unexpected close encounter, we built a four-foot-high wall around approximately two acres of land, enclosing our house, the aviary, our two greenhouses, vegetable garden and a series of storage rooms. This way, any night-time excursion by me or them would not lead to an unanticipated crossing of paths. The two pit extensions of the septic system were dug outside this wall a year or so after the wall’s completion. Initially, there was no question of an elephant walking over of these pits, since they are very wary about standing on any fresh dirt they may come across. This avoidance of fresh dirt goes back to the historical human practice used to capture elephants, the captured elephants turned into beasts of burden or vehicles for warfare, like horses. A large pit would be dug and then lightly covered over with dirt. An unsuspecting elephant would walk on top of the pit and fall inside, becoming trapped and unable to climb out. Hence, the tell-tale sign of freshly dug dirt was a ‘danger signal’ for elephants saying, ‘Don’t walk here!’ But as the years rolled by, rainfall and fallen leaves had worked together to cover any sign of fresh dirt and the pits’ existence.

There still should have been no problem, even if the elephants had walked on the covers of the pits as they did with other covers, when they had been able to walk right next to our house in the past. But unfortunately, the mason had not properly secured the cement and steel covering for one of the new pits. When the young elephant walked on top of it, the cover gave way under its weight, cracking in two and sending the poor elephant to the bottom of the pit.

This was the cause of all the panic being exhibited by the rest of the elephants and not just close family members. Elephants from every direction converged on the area, some even scaling the four-foot stone wall around the house in order to see what had happened and try to help, some also breaking through the fencing surrounding the vegetable garden.

Others used their incredible might to try and break down the ten-foot-tall double-door heavy steel gate to gain access, bending both sides of the gate in the middle. The gate held but is permanently bent even now — a testimony not only to the physical strength of elephants, but even more to the amazing strength of their family bonds — bonds of love and affection, and their complete dedication and devotion to each other and to their entire family group.

Anil and I watched from above as elephants from every direction converged on our house. One large female came up from the river stood below us and then violently shook one of our hibiscus plants, looking us in the eyes as if to say, ‘What have you done to my little sister?’

Looking down at her, I said out loud in English, ‘Your family is not here. You need to turn around, cross the river and go to the back of the house to find them and help,’ using my hand to point to the direction she needed to go. Instantly, she turned around, crossed the river in front of us and headed to the back of the house, precisely as I had told her. While it is doubtful she understood my English, she clearly understood where I was showing her to go. Meanwhile, an astonishing demonstration of love, loyalty and intelligence was unfolding. First, one of the elephants picked up half of the cement cover and threw it to the side. Next, the other half which was protruding from the pit was manoeuvred so that it became a slanted ramp coming up to the top of the pit. Then, with interlocking trunks to help pull out the trapped ‘sister’ amid a cacophony of calls of direction and encouragement, the elephants worked together to pull out their sister from the pit—an almost unbelievable feat of strength, thinking and cooperation fuelled through the power of love.  

The entire event lasted about ninety minutes. During the whole time, not one elephant left the scene before their sister had been rescued and freed. By God’s grace, she was unharmed and able to walk normally with the rest of her beloved family back into the jungle of our sanctuary home. 

Had the elephants not been able to get her out, it is highly questionable whether humans could have succeeded, without her being severely injured or killed, since there was no heavy equipment available in the region at that time to hoist her out, not to mention she would have had to be tranquilized in order to put any kind of harness on her to even attempt it.

Tranquilizing any animal is always a risk, especially one as large as an elephant. Too much tranquilizer and the elephant could easily go into a coma, especially having been under such stress for several hours, as elephants can suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), just like humans. Not enough sedative would mean no human could approach her to put any harness on, as it would be too dangerous to try. 

Needless to say, the septic system extension pits have been walled in and the new cover securely installed. We also raised the entire rock boundary wall to five feet since elephants demonstrated that they could still scale it at four feet. 

Both Anil and I were concerned that this incident may have broken the faith and trust the elephants had for us. Fortunately, it did not, the entire family group demonstrating their intact faith in us not long thereafter.  

Excerpted with permission from From The Heart of Nature by Pamela Malhotra, Penguin eBury Press.