The baby wild elephant that swam across the Naf River from Myanmar has still not been returned to the forest. Forest department and Coast Guard members tried from midday on Monday (3 July) to Tuesday afternoon (4 July) but could not move it.

During this time a local man, Muhammad Nur, 34, son of Abul Hasim of Naitongpara in Teknaf, was injured when the elephant attacked.

The eight-month-old wild elephant, about seven feet tall, swam across the Naf from Myanmar on Monday morning and entered the Jhau Bagan at Gholarchar on Shah Porir Dwip in Teknaf. Crowds gathered to see it. Forest department and Coast Guard members went to the spot, but more than 40 hours later they had still not been able to return it to the forest. The elephant remains at Gholarchar.

Teknaf range officer Md Abul Kalam said the elephant was still at Gholarchar and his team had been trying to return it to the forest since it arrived. It is being fed, and there has been no major accident. He said that if the elephant can be brought under control, it will be taken to a park or the forest on the advice of senior officials.

Cox's Bazar divisional forest officer (DFO, South) Sarwar Alam said a herd of elephants had come down from the hills in Myanmar to drink from the Naf on Monday morning. The calf may have gone into the river after being chased by people, and then swum into Bangladesh. He estimated its age at about eight months.

He added that according to the latest information on Tuesday afternoon, the calf was still in the Gholarchar Jhau Bagan on Shah Porir Dwip, and forest department and Coast Guard personnel were working to return it to the forest.

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