Forest official injured by trained elepha

SNS, Siliguri, 24 December: A forest official was injured after a ‘kunki’ elephant dashed him against the ground by its trunk at 7th mile forest under the Mahananda wildlife sanctuary today.

The incident occurred when an injured elephant was treated. Two ‘kunki’ (trained) elephants were brought from the Jaldapara National Park yesterday to keep them in the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary and they were used to tranquilise the wild male elephant, whose right foreleg was injured.

One of the ‘Kunki’ elephant dashed the forest official Janardan Chowdhury (52) to the ground and attacked with its trunk. Mr Chowdhury was brought to the Siliguri District Hospital. Later, he was referred to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH). The incident shocked the forest officials.

“The treatment of the elephant has been started today. The elephant suffered an injury of its right foreleg. Two ‘Kunki’ elephants, which were brought from the Jaldapara National Park, were used to tranquilise the elephant. The veterinary surgeons of Jaldapara and Naxalbari block were treating it. 

The treatment was started after the tranquilisation of the elephant. There were 25-30 persons, including the forest officials, around the elephant. Suddenly one of the ‘Kunkis’ ~ Karna dashed Mr Chowdhury to the ground and attacked with its trunk. Mr Chowdhury had come from Jaldapara. We are terribly shocked with the incident and it was a horrible experience for us. 

We failed to understand how a trained elephant could do this. The ‘mahout’ even could not control the elephant,” said the range officer of the Sukna Wildlife Squad, Mr Nitai Roy, who was present during the incident. 

However, the condition of Mr Chowdhury is stable. The divisional forest officer of the Wildlife Division 1, Mr Vasav Raj, said the ‘’Kunki’ elephant would be kept under observation to study the change in its behaviour.