A stranded elephant was able to climb onto a specially built rope ladder and flee from a canal.
It had fallen into a canal in Welikanda, Sri Lanka’s Polonnaruwa region, when wildlife officials decided to come up with a strategy.
The elephant is seen wading across a canal’s waters before spotting the Department of Wildlife Conservation’s handmade rope ladder.
The clip begins with the determined elephant attempting to walk up a slippery slope along the canal’s bank.
He closes his eyes and submerges his nose in the water again, but after a few tries, he is unable to bring his hind legs out of the canal and returns to it.
Rescuers then firecrackers to guide the elephant down the canal, where he is brought to safety by a specially constructed ladder.
The elephant lifts his tail out of the water and clambers up the ladder, which is made out of ropes, branches, and tires.
The miserable elephant makes desperate efforts to lift his body out of the water and grasp the rope during the six-hour extraction operation.
He makes several tries before he finally climbs the ladder and returns to dry land.
