Daltonganj: Latehar district administration on Wednesday asked for a report from officials of Palamu Tiger Reserve which houses the Betla National Park after 40-year-old Kaal Bhairav, a captive elephant, was attacked and killed by two wild tuskers at Palamu Quila late on Monday night.
In a letter to the deputy director of the tiger project on Wednesday, Latehar deputy commissioner Abu Imran sought to know why was the elephant shifted from the designated shelter to another location and what steps did the forest ranger take at the time of the incident to safeguard the animal.
It also sought to know whether the elephant was kept in a forest as per the central government guidelines.
The male elephant, along with two female elephants, was brought from Mysuru in Karnataka in 2018.
Though forest officials said they tried to scare the wild tuskers away by bursting crackers while they were attacking Kaal Bhairav, locals alleged no forest official was present at the spot during the incident.
On Monday around 9pm, the two wild tuskers entered Kaal Bhairav’s shed and gored him to death. Officials said he could not defend himself as he was tied with a chain, which later broke in the melee, but by that time it was too late.
Preliminary reports suggested Kaal Bhairav died shock and profuse internal bleeding caused by the piercing of the tusks.
Earlier, wildlife expert D S Srivastava had said that it was a case of a fight for supremacy. However, this was the first time in PTR when an animal died in such kind of a fight.