Malappuram: An elephant fell into a private well in this district on Thursday morning, and the forest department is facing difficulties in rescuing the pachyderm as locals want it to be relocated to a deep forest area instead of releasing in the same area again.

Owner of the land in Urangattiri where the well is located and other residents told the Nilambur DFO that they will not allow anyone to carry out the rescue work till an assurance is given that the elephant will be tranquilised and transported into a deep forest.

They also demanded compensation for their crops destroyed by the elephants frequenting in the area. The DFO said it was not an easy process to tranquilise and relocate the elephant.

Talking to reporters here, he said that the feasibility of tranquilising the elephant has to be examined.

He also said that it would be much easier to demolish a part of the well to make way for the elephant to come out and then drive it into the nearby forest.

However, the residents told the DFO that the elephant would return shortly after the forest officials leave and therefore, it should be relocated to some other deep forest area.

Responding to this demand, the DFO said a decision would be taken after considering people’s concerns.