An Asian wild elephant has died in Longadu in the hill district of Rangamati. Shariful Islam, officer of the Pablakhali range, confirmed the death on Sunday morning (26 April). The elephant had been ill for a long time.

Shariful Islam said the elephant had been suffering from an infection for a long time and had been treated twice a few weeks ago; it had been under treatment since 10 April. Members of the Elephant Response Team at Bhasanyadam in the upazila found the body on Sunday morning and informed the forest department.

Md Joynal, leader of the local Elephant Response Team, said: "We found the wild elephant dead in the morning. It had been under treatment for quite some time. It was the biggest elephant in this area."

Md Rafiquzzaman Shah, divisional forest officer of the Chittagong Hill Tracts North Forest Division, said the elephant had been ill for several weeks. A team of veterinarians treated it on 10 April, and it had been given various medicines since then. The ERT team went there in the morning to give it medicine in its food and found it dead. The dead male elephant was about 65 years old, he said.

He added that a female elephant was standing beside the dead elephant, in what is essentially a show of mourning. The dead elephant will be buried once the female moves away.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.