Pet elephants deployed to locate migrant tusker

Baripada, June 14 (UNI) Pet bull elephant and two adult cow elephants of Simlipal have been deployed to locate their wild kin-- a migrant tusker, strayed from the neighbouring Jharkhand.

Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR) sources said the tusker had crossed the Orissa-Jharkhand border and entered Mayurbhanj district in March last. Since then it had been causing depredations in Jashipur block areas, they added.

Elephants Mahendra, Sova and Bhawani were deployed yesterday by the STR to either tame or chase it away to its habitat.

Forest officials said rampaging pachyderm had already trampled to death one Hara Nayak of Kajala village under Jashipur police station May 31 last.

Mr Purna Das, an experienced mahout from the Manas Tiger Reserve in Asom, has been conducting the operation to locate the migrant tusker hiding in the dense forest of Jashipur block.

STR Deputy Director Bejoy Kumar Parida said the skilled mahout, whose service was requisitioned on the request of the STR Field Director Debabrata Swain from the Manas Tiger Reserve, started his operation yesterday.

Mr Das would also help in imparting training to Bhawani's son Rajkumar and Sova's daughter Laxmi so that they could fend for themselves and also learn to accept command from their mahouts.

After completion of the training, they would be added to the three-member elephant squad of Simlipal, the sources said.

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