Forest officials tranquilising the elephant in Chanda village on Sunday | Express
KENDRAPARA: The 300-km trek of a wild elephant covering four districts in 12 days finally came to an end after it was captured by forest personnel from a paddy field in Chanda village here on Sunday.The 15-year-old female elephant was wreaking havoc in several districts since the last 12 days during which it killed an 80-year-old man and injured two persons besides damaging crops on vast stretches of farmland.
The jumbo traversed a distance of around 300 km covering Jajpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts within the 12 days. Cuttack DFO Sanjay Swain said, “We believe the elephant got separated from its herd in Dalijodi forest of Jajpur district and wandered alone for 12 days. We launched an operation on Saturday to capture the pachyderm by roping in an expert team including veterinarians from Nandankanan Biological Park. Forest officials tracked the elephant and tranquilised it in Chanda.”
Swain further informed that the elephant will be released in the wild. “We would take into account the elephant’s welfare and safety of people while deciding its place of relocation,” he added.
