Senior citizen Lakshmi on Tuesday gave a bad scare to her well-wishers as she collapsed, gasping for breath, around 1.30am at Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary near the steel city.

But the 60-plus tame elephant fought for dear life before she was able to stand on her feet again.

Two government vets worked on Lakshmi for eight hours, administering 17 units of saline. A crane helped her up to her feet. Finally, a gasp of relief went around the crowd of onlookers as Lakshmi was able to stand on her own.

The ailing elephant was rescued from mahouts in Deoghar by foresters and brought to Dalma for rehabilitation this March. But decades of being underfed and forced to roam around for alms have taken their toll on Lakshmi’s health. She is almost sightless, has a problem in her left hind leg and is very weak.

Dalma range officer (West) Dinesh Chandra said forest guards informed them of Lakshmi’s collapse and added that it was a miracle that she responded to treatment and stood up this morning. “Frankly, we had just kept our fingers crossed as she is of advanced age and has lost her strength and vigour,” he said. “It was a Herculean effort on part of the vets who came from Jamshedpur to treat Lakshmi.”

The range officer said they feel very sad to see Lakshmi tottering. “She walks slowly, her sight is bad. She came to us in a bad shape. But she is here for rehabilitation and it is our responsibility to keep her in comfort,” Chandra, who gave Rs 2,000 to the crane operator from his own pocket, added.

Lakshmi stays under a shed near the main entrance gates at Makulakocha on the foothills with two other rescued female elephants Champa and Rajni.

Champa was rescued from the clutches of robbers in Jamtara in 2010. Rajni was brought to Dalma after she fell in a well at Ichagarh village in Seraikela-Kharsawan the same year.