Elephant that traveled 1,700 km from India to Bangladesh dies

An elephant thought to have traveled at least 1,700 kilometers from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods died on Tuesday despite last-ditch efforts to save him.

The distressed animal was tranquilized three times in sometimes dramatic bids to try to transport him to a safari park in Bangladesh, after he washed across the border in late June.

He was eventually given huge amounts of saline and chained in a paddyfield in a northern village to help him recover, but he was “too weak and tired” from his or deal, officials said.

“It breathed its last breath at around 7am,” said the government’s chief wildlife conservator Ashit Ranjan Paul. “We have given our highest effort to save the animal. At least 10 forest rangers, vets and policemen have constantly followed it for the last 48 days. But our luck is bad,” he said.

Paul said the animal likely traveled more than 1,700 kilometers from the northeastern Indian state of Assam after being separated from his herd in severe flooding.

The animal ran amok and charged into a pond after Bangladesh forest officials hit him with a tranquilizer dart last Thursday.

Local villagers jumped into the pond to save the four-ton animal from drowning by stopping it from toppling into the water.

A villager was also critically injured during another rescue effort on Monday after being kicked by the elephant, which had again been tranquilized.

Local media blamed excessive tranquilizing for the animal’s death, saying he became too weak to stand.

But Paul said the long journey was responsible, adding that rescue efforts had been hampered by the thousands of curious villagers following him.

“In the end it became too tired by traveling such a great length. It had been separated from its herd for some two months and did not get the nutrients that it needed,” he said. “Thousands of villagers followed it everyday as it entered into Bangladesh and then traveled to villages and river islands across the Brahmaputra river.”

AFP A tranquilized wild elephant lies on the ground after being pulled from a pond by Bangladesh forest officials and villagers in the Jamalpur district, some 150 km north of Dhaka.