Two more elephants captured as part of Operation Gajendra

Elephant transport interrupted due to heavy rains

It seems that the efforts of the officials to shift the herd of elephants working well with capturing two more elephants taking the number to six. Since the operation Gajendra began, four elephants were captured till Monday and two have been shifted to Lakheri sanctuary in Orissa while the other two are awaiting transportation. The two elephants that were sent back, one elephant died while drinking water.

With the capture of the six elephants, three of the elephants now remain to be caught. The efforts of officials led by Nandankanan Zoological Park chief doctor RK Samantha Roy to do a postmortem on the dead elephant at Lakheri was marred by heavy rains. The officials were awaiting the arrival of Orissa Wild Life officer Purohit from Lakheri.

District Forest officer BV Ramana Babu said that the operation was delayed due to incessant rains and action plan was being formulated to send back the herd to Lakheri. It was decided to transport the elephants by road instead of herding them through forest. The delay in transportation of four elephants was due to rough roads laid for the trucks were washed away in the rains he added.

Encyclopedia Reference: Elephant, Trample, Shifting