Stranded elephant gets name

The rescued elephant has been named Bangabahadur for its perilous journey across nearly 1,000 kilometres of submerged areas after it entered Bangladesh from India.

The 17-member rescue team of Bangladesh Forest Department has adorned the mighty creature with the name, said Tapon Kumar Dey who has been leading the team and also chief executive director of Nature Conservation Society.  

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Earlier on Thursday evening, at Koyra village in Sarishabari upazila of Jamalpur, the tranquilised Bangabahadur regained consciousness and was given a dose of glucose shot along with other food.

A 500-litre glucose saline was administered on her to give her a boost of energy and following that she was being fed with sugarcane and banana plants, Tapon said.

After the glucose dose the shackles on the front legs of the elephant had to be unfastened and tied to trees with thick nylon ropes so that it can stand up and make movements while it eats, he said, adding that it was also necessary as elephants naturally sleep while standing up.   

Yesterday morning the untamed wild animal became agitated to see a crowd of onlookers. She tore off the ropes and took a dip in a pond nearby. She later came back to her resting place and the members of the rescue team managed to tie her ropes again.

“We are planning to engage a team of five elephant keepers (mahut) to tame the wild elephant," Tapon said.

Once tamed, the elephant will be loaded onto a truck and transported to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur, he added.  

A joint rescue team comprising forest and veterinary officials from Bangladesh and India started the rescue operation on August 4, but they did not succeed as they could not find a suitable place to tranquillise the animal. The three-member rescue team from Assam forest department left Dhaka on August 9.

On Thursday, August 11, veterinary surgeon of the Bangladesh forest rescue team Dr Syed tranquilised the elephant.

Bangabahadur got separated from her herd in Assam of India and on June 27 she entered Bangladesh through Chilmari of Kurigram, floating with currents of the Brahmaputra River.