Bangladesh plans to keep an Indian elephant which was rescued by its forest department team after more than six weeks of frantic efforts since the tusker was washed across the border by gushing flood waters to languish in swamps.
"The elephant may be kept at Bangabandhu Safari Park (at Gazipur) as it has been separated from its herd in the hilly forests in Assam. Indian authorities have agreed to the arrangement," retired deputy chief forest conservator Tapan Kumar Dey told media at the scene at northern Jamalpur.
Dey, who oversaw the rescue efforts over the past several weeks, said the elephant was unlikely to be accepted by the herd if returned to the forest which could be dangerous for it to survive there.
He said the elephant still needed some more days to regain health at Koira village where it was rescued yesterday with the help of tranquiliser darts.
Hundreds of villagers gathered to see the elephant prompting Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and policemen to deploy forces to maintain discipline.
Forest department veterinary surgeon Syed Hossain shot the elephant with a tranquilising gun at 2 pm yesterday at Dhanata village of northern Jamalpur district.
An official said the elephant initially appeared agitated after receiving the tranquiliser and moved indiscriminately for nearly an hour but later it fell unconscious.
The elephant fell in a ditch at Koira village, one and half kilometers off the scene where it was shot.
The forest officials joined by enthusiast villagers tied up the elephant with ropes after dragging the animal, weighing about four tonnes, off the ditch.
According to Dey, Indian authorities conveyed Bangladeshi forest officials that they did not have any objection if it was kept in Bangladesh.
He said the forest officials were planning to bring in two tamed elephants to train the wild elephant for several days before moving it to the safari park.
"The two elephants will escort the rescued elephant up to the main road (leading to Gazipur) to be boarded on a truck...If required it will be tranquilised again at that time," Dey said.
The elephant was washed across the border by gushing flood waters in Brahmaputra on June 27 to languish in swamps for 46 days.
"For the past several weeks the elephant travelled over one thousand miles in a hostile situation since the flood waters drove it out from India's Assam state...It now needs some rest and good food to regain the health," chief forest conservator Yunus Ali had said.
An expert team from India led by a retired chief forest conservator of theirs on July 4 joined the Bangladeshi team in rescuing the elephant but left the scene three days later, leaving the task to their Bangladeshi counterparts.
The elephant crossed the common Brahmaputra River on June 27 and soon grabbed media attention as it was followed by hundreds of people in boats every day requiring police deployment to keep it undisturbed.
In the past 456 days, it roamed along the river shoals and swamps in three northern districts.
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