Barely 48 hours after a wild elephant rampaged through Siliguri, another pachyderm ran amok in the city, killing one and injuring four on Friday.
The wild elephant strayed from the Baikantapur forest near Aambari, a small village bazaar 15km from Siliguri, and crossed the Kartua Bridge to enter Haricharan village, where a farmer working in a tea garden was killed. The victim was identified as Naren Roy.
The elephant, which is yet to be captured, is said to be heading towards Siliguri. Forest officials and police personnel are in hot pursuit, trying to drive the elephant back into the forest.
“Two forest staff were injured today. Our immediate aim is to drive away the elephant to the forest, but the presence of hundreds of people in the area was posing a problem,” said PR Pradhan, the divisional forest officer of Baikantapur.
The injured forest officials were admitted in a local hospital.
Earlier on Wednesday, West Bengal’s second largest town was witness to a rampage by another male elephant. Followed by a crowd of people, the wild pachyderm went through the town destroying everything in its path, including walls, houses and parked vehicles, for more than five hours. It was later tranquilised and taken to the Sukha forest reserve.
Sources said the two elephants that wandered into the city over the last two days belonged to the same group of three that lived in the Baikantapur forest.
{{/usCountry}}Sources said the two elephants that wandered into the city over the last two days belonged to the same group of three that lived in the Baikantapur forest.
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