Rogue tusker shot dead in West Bengal

KOLKATA: A tusker, which had been declared rogue by the forest department for killing and injuring villagers, was shot dead on Tuesday by professional hunters engaged

KOLKATA: A tusker, which had been declared rogue by the forest department for killing and injuring villagers, was shot dead on Tuesday by professional hunters engaged by the government inside the dense forests of Beliatore in Bankura district of West Bengal.

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Forest officials, however, managed to capture another young elephant — the tusker’s associate — after tranquilising it. At least five kunkis (trained elephants) were used to capture the elephant, who was later sent to a rehab centre in north Bengal.

“Killing was our last resort. We first tried to capture it, but all our efforts failed. Officials tried to tranquilise it at least seven times. The elephant attacked the forest guards who tried to dart it. Some of our men had a narrow escape. After a lot of effort, we decided to kill it,” said Chandan Sinha state forest secretary.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had recently rapped the forest officials for failing to tackle the man-elephant conflict in the state that had resulted in 108 human deaths in 2015-16. At least 14 elephants were killed in retaliatory attacks in the same period.

Sources said that the tusker, standing nearly 10 feet tall, had been declared ‘rogue’ in April 2015 for killing and injuring a few villagers. The animal had been on the run since and all earlier efforts to capture or kill it had failed.