This story is from February 13, 2019

20km from Nabanna, Howrah elephants stopped in tracks

20km from Nabanna, Howrah elephants stopped in tracks
Two sub-adult tuskers that entered a Howrah village on Monday were tranquillised late on Tuesday afternoon at another location in the district
HOWRAH/KOLKATA: Two sub-adult tuskers that entered a Howrah village on Monday were tranquillised late on Tuesday afternoon at another location in the district, which is barely 20 kilometres from state secretariat Nabanna. The operation ended their two-day journey — they travelled over 100 kilometres and traversed three districts of Bengal.
Till last reports came, efforts were being made to load the tranquillised elephants on trailers.
“The darts have worked, but due to lack of proper roads, our staff faced difficulties in taking the trailers to the spot where they were darted,” said chief wildlife warden Ravi Sinha. Late at night, payloaders were brought to the spot to dug out a temporary road. If all goes well, the jumbos would be taken to Purulia, where they would be treated before being released.
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In the wee hours of Tuesday, the tuskers crossed Damodar from Hooghly’s Khanakul to enter a village in Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur. From there, they reached Kolepara in Jagatballavpur — barely 20 kilometres from the town — walking along village roads. “On their way, they raided some farmlands,” said Kamal Goswami, a Kolepara villager. After being chased by villagers, the tuskers sneaked into nearby Islampur village in Manikpir and took shelter in an abandoned betel leaf plantation.
Even though foresters from four divisions were present, in no time they were outnumbered by villagers — their number swelled to 1,000 — making it difficult for foresters to dart the jumbos. “Around 2pm, we could finally take aim after payloaders were pressed into service to clear the vegetation. Later, we approached the elephants as they stood inside the plantation with minimal swaying. But the crowd had again gathered. Besides, the village doesn’t have any proper road, making it difficult for us to take the trailers to the spot,” said a forester, adding that they had to dart them again later in the evening with controlled dosage.
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