Salvaged: A kumki elephant helping the wild elephant at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve near Udhagamandalam on Tuesday. Udhagamandalam: A male elephant which was struggling to get out of a mud pit was rescued by a forest team headed by the Tiger Reserve veterinarian Kalaivanan at Ombetta, a part of Kargudi range inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on Tuesday. Enquiries revealed that sometime in the night or early in the morning, the pachyderm which was playing in the mud pit near the Ombetta lake had put one of its tusks under a root. While trying to extricate itself it got a part of its head stuck inside a drain. The anti-poaching staff immediately informed Rajeev Kumar Srivastava the Field Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve who directed Dr.Kalaivanan to organise the rescue. A kumki (working elephant) was brought to the spot and pain killers administered to the lone tusker aged about 13 years. The drain was then broken and enough space provided for the elephant to remove its head and tusk. Dr. Kalaivanan said that tranquilizing the animal in that position is quite dangerous. With a little bit of assistance from the kumki, the tusker got out of the spot and ran into a deeper part of the jungle, he added.