Assam team to rescue jumbo from Bangladesh

“They are going to Dhaka on Wednesday where they will meet Bangladesh forest department officials and prepare a strategy to bring back the elephant,” state Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Bikash Brahma told PTI. 

The three-member team, comprising Goalpara DFO Md Suleman Uddin Choudhury, retired conservator of forests Rithesh Ch Bhattacharjee and veterinary professor Dr KK Sarma, will also undertake site visits to explore feasibility of bringing the jumbo back as it is under severe distress after losing contact with its herd. 

“Bangladesh also wants us to take it back as it has damaged property there. It has to be tranquilised and then brought back in a truck,” Project Elephant director RK Srivastava told PTI from Delhi. 

The Bangladesh forest department is constantly tracking the movement of the stranded elephant. On June 27 it was reported that a wild female elephant was separated from her herd in Assam and floated along with the currents of the Brahmaputra river from Dhubri district into neighbouring Bangladesh. 

In search of food, the pachyderm is now in conflict with villagers living in Kurigram and Jamalpur districts. 

Carcass of an adult male Royal Bengal tiger was found inundated Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in upper Assam on Tuesday, a senior forest department official said. 

The carcass was found in Siga Forest Camp under Agoratoli Range, Kaziranga divisional forest officer Sivashish Das told PTI. Forest Department officials and veterinarians, who rushed to the spot, said after preliminary investigation that the big cat had died after a fight with buffaloes, Das said.