Guwahati, Nov. 11 (IANS): The Assam Forest department on Monday tranquilized the rogue elephant 'Laden', which had been keeping the forest official on their toes for last two week and had killed five civilians last month.
"We started the operation this morning (Monday) with the expert team including veterinarians on the ground. It was not very difficult to locate the rogue elephant as we have been monitoring the movement," said Akashdeep Baruah, Chief Conservator of Forest (Territorial).
He said that six domestic elephants and a team of guards have been used to execute the operation to tranquilize the elephant.
"It is a team work and we are successful in tranquilizing the elephant," he said.
The forest officials of Assam started a massive operation to tranquilize the rogue elephant after it had trampled to death five civilians within 24 hours on October 29. Three of the victims were women, an official said.
The department had last week used drones to locate the elephant in the Rangjuli forest division. Then, the officials used domestic elephants and forest guards to monitor its movement.
BJP legislator from Sootea, Padma Hazarika also joined the team of Forest officials with his domesticated elephant, Ramu after the Assam government sought his expertise in tackling the crisis. Hazarika has expertise in dealing with problematic elephants.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday congratulated Hazarika for successfully capturing the wild elephant that had unleashed a reign of terror in Goalpara district for past few days.
"Padma Hazarika's feat in capturing the wild elephant is highly praiseworthy. As a true public representative, the Sootea MLA offered his help to the forest department to provide succour to the people who were living under constant fear of attack by the wild tusker," Sonowal said in a statement.
