Too weak to get up

The second time tranquilised wild elephant who fell down on the muddy field of Koyra village in Jamalpur yesterday morning due to the heat, lesser amounts of food and the way he has been tied, did not get up as of yesterday evening.

“The tired pachyderm is now lying in the field,” said Ashim Kumar Mallick, wildlife inspector of the forest department.

The stranded elephant recently rescued and named as Bangabahadur fell down around 11:30am and was lying there as of 7:00pm.

Mallick said he was being given 300-litre saline to recover, adding, “We are pouring water on him to help him to cope with the heat.” 

Bangabahadur was not transported to Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur yesterday as was expected, said Tapan Kumar Dey, chief executive director of Nature Conservation Society. 

“We gave him lesser amounts of food so that he would not become too energetic as we were planning to escort him with the help of three other elephants brought from there,” said Mallick.

The forest department is also confused over the ways he can be loaded onto a truck and taken to the park, said Tapon.

“This is our first experience in tranquilising and transporting a wild elephant. To some extent this is a difficult job and we will consult with the Indian team for advice as they have experience in this,” he added.

Bangabahadur was tranquilised on Sunday for the second time after being tranquilised on August 11.

The wild elephant got separated from his herd in Assam and entered into Bangladesh territory on June 27.