Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The elephant that accompanied the one responsible for trampling three villagers to death in Shahdol range has now joined a wild herd of twelve wild elephants in the Sanjay Tiger Reserve and is currently moving along the Chhattisgarh border.
While the forest team captured the killer elephant and transferred it to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, the second elephant that was found not to be involved in the killings was left at the Sanjay Tiger Reserve.
Deputy director of Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Rajesh Khanna, stated that the herd of twelve elephants has accepted the second elephant. The group is led by a female elephant, and forest officials are closely monitoring the movement of the herd, said Khanna.
The second elephant, which was not captured , is a ‘Makhna’ - the term stands for an elephant which doesn’t have tusks due to low testosterone levels. This elephant has now joined the herd currently roaming the Pondi range near the Chhattisgarh border, said official.
Behaviour of killer elephant being studied
The 20-year-old elephant captured from Sanjay Tiger Reserve after it killed three villagers in the Shahdol range is now being kept in the Tala range of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Forest officials are currently observing its behaviour, and future decisions will depend on their findings.
The initial plan of the forest department is not to domesticate the elephant, instead it aims to release the elephant into the wild once its behaviour stabilizes. According to a forest official, the elephant was in heat and when it saw villagers collecting tendu leaves, it went berserk and trampled three of them to death, said a forest official.
Bandhavgarh home to 50-60 elephants
A forest officer said that Bandhavgarh is currently home to around 50 to 60 elephants that migrated from neighbouring Chhattisgarh years ago. These elephants have since made the forest their permanent home. “ They mostly stay in the core area and hardly enter the buffer zone. Only one or two elephants are seen moving in the buffer zone,” said one of the forest rangers.
