Elephant 'Laden' dies after six days in captivity

Guwahati, Nov 17: A 35-year old rogue elephant, which was tranquilised after being blamed for killing five people in Goalpara district died at Assam's Orang National Park on Sunday.

"The animal was doing fine but the keepers have reported that it died around 5.30 a.m. today (Sunday)," senior forest officer told IANS.

The tusker, named Laden after the late Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was captured, after tranquilizing, from Rongjuli forest division in Western Assam's Goalpara district on November 11.

It crushed to death a 70-year old man and injured a child in Bataitari village of the district, the officials said.

Another 11-year-old was killed in Santipurnigam, while three women were trampled to death in Paschim Matia, Hidhabari and Hahsorabri villages last week.

The pachyderm has trampled to death more than 50 people during the last few years. The bull-elephant was declared as 'rogue' by the forest officials.

According to elephant expert, K K Sarma, 'Laden' was thrown out of his herd around two years ago, after a likely quarrel with its most dominant male member.

The man-elephant conflict has assumed alarming proportions in Assam with death of 761 people and 249 jumbos since 2010.

According to the Elephant Census 2017, Assam had the highest number of elephants (5,719) after Karnataka (6,049), There were 27, 312 elephants across the country as per the survey.

with agency inputs