In a heartwarming incident from Jharkhand, a railway and forest official in Ramgarh halted a coal-laden goods train for over two hours so that a pregnant elephant on the railway track could give birth without fear.
According to a Times of India report, this humanitarian incident occurred on a forest stretch between Barkakana and Hazaribag railway station. This railway line is mostly used for transporting goods, and therefore, no passengers were affected by the 2-hour delay.
Here's what happened:
According to the TOI report, the incident occurred two weeks ago at around 3 AM when forest officials, monitoring the area, noticed an elephant on the tracks. Soon, they realised that the female elephant was in labour and was lying on the tracks to deliver the calf.
Concerned for the safety of the jumbo and her baby, the forest officials rushed to contact the railway authorities to request that the scheduled train stop.
“At 3 am, our forest guard informed me that a pregnant female elephant is lying on the tracks with labour pain. He also warned that it might get run over by a train and requested me to stop all train movement along the route,” Divisional forest officer (DFO), Ramgarh, Nitish Kumar told TOI.
He added that he had immediately contacted the railway control room in Barkakana and directed them to stop all trains. The trains were stopped for two hours until the elephant gave birth and left the track.
Kumar also confirmed that the viral videos of the incident circulating on social media were recorded by a forest guard. The viral videos show the mother elephant peacefully delivering her baby.
In the past five years, Jharkhand has reported a loss of 474 human lives in man-elephant conflicts, second only to Odisha. Additionally, 30 elephants have died in the state since 2019 due to electrocution and other causes.
However, this heartwarming incident reminds us that humankind can peacefully coexist with wildlife, accommodated by a few extra halts.