The elephant that went on the rampage in Tanore, Rajshahi, and Nachole, Chapainawabganj, has finally been caught. It was captured on the afternoon of Thursday, 9 November, after a rescue team from Dhaka knocked it out with a tranquilliser.

Tanore upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Billal Hossain confirmed the capture.

He said the elephant's owner lives in the Mahasthangarh area of Bogura. After it was caught at around 4pm, the elephant was handed over to a man named Shakil Hossain on the owner's behalf. "The panic the elephant had spread in the area is gone. Relief has returned among the local people," he said.

Locals said that on the night of Tuesday, 7 November, the owner tied two elephants in a mango orchard in Manikra village of Nachole upazila, Chapainawabganj, and went to eat. The two elephants broke the branches and ran off. From the morning of Wednesday, 8 November, curious crowds gathered in Manikra to see them and tried to catch them, and the elephants became agitated. One elephant seized a teenager, Mufassir, with its trunk and dashed him to the ground. Locals took him to Nachole Upazila Health Complex, where a doctor declared him dead. He was the son of Bulbul Hossain of Lakshmipur village in Nezampur union, Nachole.

One elephant was caught at Amnura Shimultala crossing. The other went into neighbouring Tanore and ran amok in the Dhamdhum area of Tanore upazila at around 3.30pm on Wednesday. It trampled a young man named Rampad Munda, who died on the spot. He was the son of the late Lalit Munda of Jumarpara village in Badhair union of the upazila.

On hearing that the elephant had broken loose, Forest Department officials tried to catch it but failed. After trying to bring it under control until 7pm on Wednesday, they suspended the operation.

That day the upazila administration took position in Dhamdhum village to catch the elephant, and police were in the field to keep the situation under control. The fire service tried to drive it off with water. An attempt to fire a tranquilliser dart missed. In the end, Dhaka was informed.

The Forest Department rescue team from Dhaka reached Tanore on Thursday morning and found that the elephant had moved from Dhamdhum to Boidyapur graveyard. Fear of the elephant kept people in the surrounding villages out of their fields that day. Around noon the rescue team caught the elephant, but it broke its chain and escaped.

Jahangir Kabir, wildlife inspector of the Rajshahi Forest Department's wildlife management and nature conservation division, said the elephant was caught with a tranquilliser at around 1pm but managed to escape again a little later. At around 4pm it was knocked out with a tranquilliser.

He said angry local people surrounded the elephant and began throwing stones at it. Fearing it could break loose again, police moved against the locals to bring the situation under control. Once things were back to normal, the upazila administration handed the elephant over to the owner's side.

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