By Shibimol KG: A giant bear trapped in a 15-feet-deep well in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram died during the rescue operation on Thursday. As part of the rescue operation, the officials had tranquilised the animal. However, it led to the sedated bear going under water.

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The bear waded inside a residential area of Vellanad town at around 1 am on Thursday. According to a local, the bear fell into the well while trying to catch a hen. The locals then alerted the officials, who reached the location in half an hour.

The bear was found hanging on the net which was covering the well.

The district forest officer (DFO) soon initiated a rescue operation. As part of the rescue efforts, the officials decided to dart the animal with a tranquilliser.

The bear was unconscious 15 minutes after the second dart hit it, claimed the officials. One side of the net got lowered down, which led to the bear going under water.

The rescue efforts went for nearly two hours but the depth of the well made it difficult to evacuate the trapped animal. Later, firefighters arrived and extracted the bear from the well, but they were unable to save its life.

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“It was a heavily populated area, so we resorted to darting. After darting, when the animal went unconscious, one of the sides lowered down, and it fell into the water,” said DFO Pradeep Kumar.

It was actually an unfortunate and unexpected incident. We could not rescue the animal, he further added.