Elephant conservation news 24 - 30 July
A rampaging male elephant which has so far killed three people in West Bengal is still on the loose two weeks later, as top Indian forest department officials argue over how to deal it.
The rogue animal strayed from its Bankura residency into the Bardhaman district a fortnight ago, trampling three to death and destroying crops, The Hindu reports.
Responding to the pleas of villagers in the area, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Sitangshu Bikash Mondal from the West Bengal Forest Department issued an order on Tuesday to "hunt on sight". However, department head, Atanu Raha, said that the elephant would be tranquilised and observed, with hunting it being a last resort.
The animal killed 70-year-old Bharat Murmu in the village of Jamboni on 16 July, then a further two at Radhamohanpur village a week later. Pressure from locals led the state forest department to declare the animal rogue.
Mondal told the paper that his directive was consistent with the Wildlife Protection Act, though Raha explained that the hunting order does not necessarily mean killing the animal outright.
"Killing it is the last resort," he said.
"It has to be tranquilised and checked to ascertain whether its abnormal behaviour is due to any injury or not."
Meanwhile, the paper reports that the divisional forest officer, GC Kajuri, said that the terrain of the area is making it problematic to track the elephant in order to tranquilise it.
"We are trying to drive it back to the Bankura range where it belongs to," he added, saying that there had not been any more rampages by the elephant.
Centenarian elephant mourned
A female Asian elephant, said to be one of the oldest in the region, has died in a Bangladesh state zoo.
Pabantara, who had lived at Dhaka Zoo since it was founded in 1957, died last week following a heart attack, officials said. She has been buried in the zoo.
Based on examinations of her teeth, vets concluded that she was around 100 years old when she died.
Described as a "loyal servant", Pabantara was said to have carried hundreds of thousands of children and adults on rides at the zoological garden, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Zoo chief AHM Shahidullah said that the three days of mourning had seen retired mahouts and others who had known Pabantara return to the zoo to pray and light candles by her grave.
New baby elephant for Chester Zoo
Chester Zoo has welcomed a new calf, after Asian elephant Sithami gave birth last week.
The baby boy, called Nayan, is the second calf born to Sithami, who also has a six-year-old daughter called Sundara.
According to the zoo visitors will be funding conservation projects abroad by visiting the new arrival.
