Captured Wild Elephant Krishna dies of ‘cardiac arrest’

Our Correspondent

MANGALDAI: The wild elephant captured in Kanyakuchi Reserve Forest of Rongjuli range in Goalpara district on November 11, finally breathed his last at the Elephant Training Centre in Orang National Park (ONP) in the early hours of Sunday. The lone pachyderm, charged with the killing of a number of villagers, was tranquilized and captured and on November 13, the elephant, rechristened as ‘Krishna’, was taken to ONP so that it could be engaged in taming of other wild pachyderms after getting proper training in the Elephant Training Centre. But unfortunately, after only three nights of stay in ONP, he died following a ‘cardiac arrest’ at about 5.45 am on Sunday, as revealed in the preliminary post-mortem report.

Mentioning this in a press release on Sunday evening, Divisional Forest Officer of Mangaldai Wildlife Division, BV Sandeep further disclosed that the elephant was in constant observation and good care and had started responding well to the mahouts. “The elephant had a normal intake of food and showed normal behaviour. He also took light food at 4 am and at 5 am,” stated the DFO in the press release. A team of veterinarians, namely Dr. KK Sarma of College of Veterinary Science, Khanapara, Dr. PK Roy of Dalgaon, Dr. Parikshit Kakati of District Veterinary Department, Dr. Panchami Sarma of State Zoo, Guwahati and Senior Programme Officer of WWF performed the post-mortem examination of the elephant. The viscera and blood samples were also collected by the team of veterinarians for further investigation. Following the performance of the post-mortem examination, the carcass of the elephant was buried with due honour and formalities near the Elephant Training Centre.

However, the unfortunate death of the elephant has also raised many a query! Is it possible to impart training to a grown-up elephant? Was the dose of the tranquilizer of appropriate measure? Why was the tranquilized elephant hurriedly brought to Orang National

Park rather than allowing the elephant to take more time to get acquainted with captured life? These are the questions raised by a section of elephant lovers here. Will the senior officers in the Forest Department be able to give a satisfying reply?

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