Is it Impossible to Rescue a Hungry Tiger and Drowning Boar at the Same Time? Well, Actually...

Thought Question: If you could help any wild animal in need, which one would you choose and how would you help it?

The people of India’s Madhya Pradesh state, home to the Pench Tiger Reserve, take the protection of the endangered big cat seriously. If tigers get in trouble, they’ll go to great lengths to rescue them. That includes fishing them out of wells when they accidentally chase wild boars into them. 

No, this isn't a Cheshire tale. The above rescue really happened last week in the village of Pipariya Harduli. The village sits in the protective buffer zone of the Pench reserve. A young tigress on the hunt tracked a boar and startled it into a sprint. They hurtled through the undergrowth. Neither predator nor prey saw the opening of the village’s well. Both fell in.  

It’s unknown how long the animals paddled about to keep afloat in the deep well water. But when villagers found them, they’d given up their game of cat and mouse. Sodden and tired, both animals clambered at the stonework walls but could not free themselves. So forest service officers got creative.  

Officers tied a simple cot from a villager’s home to the end of a crane. Then, they lowered the makeshift platform into the water. Both animals “decided to stay calm and let rescuers do the job,” Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Parveen Kaswan posted to social media. He filmed the rescue. The footage went viral.    

The tiger and boar emerged healthy and unharmed. They were released into the wild. There's no word on whether they resumed their chase. But efforts like those of the villagers and IFS have become commonplace in India. The country has doubled its tiger population over the past decade. Conservation measures there have proven so successful that India now boasts 75% of the world’s tigers.  

Gif of tiger from GIPHY.