An elephant had to pay with its life in south Bengal – courtesy human pressure in the poll season. The adult tusker, one among a group of four that killed four persons in Burdwan on Sunday and had to be tranquillized, was found dead in a paddy field on Monday morning.
Though there are speculations whether there was any drug overdose, foresters suspect that it died of dehydration and over-excitement. DFO of the area, Ajoy Das, said cause of death can be confirmed only after the postmortem report arrives. But a source said the tusker had to be tranquillized twice on Sunday – a move that once again brings to fore the need to keep experts in elephant squads, even in areas outside traditional wildlife zones. The postmortem of the tusker was conducted at Arashibtola under Ausgram forest beat. The samples have been sent to to Kolkata, from where a final report will arrive soon.
Another sub-adult elephant from the same group was finally tranquillized on Monday afternoon after it travelled for more than 80km to Nadia’s Kaliganj. Confirming the news, state chief wildlife warden Pradeep Vyas said: “We are sending this elephant to Gorumara where it will be trained and used by the forest department.”
“Four other jumbos have crossed Damodar river and gone inside the forest of Bankura’s Patrashayar,” Vyas added.