A massive operation involving more than 300 forest personnel armed with tranquilizer guns and heavy machinery failed to capture a rogue elephant on Friday, as the animal killed two more persons in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district. The frenzied tusker, believed to be in musth and separated from its herd, has now claimed 19 lives since the start of the year until January 9, with another 10 people injured.
A Deadly Rampage and a Failed Capture
The forest department's elaborate plan to tranquilize and capture the elephant unfolded on Friday in the Benisagar forest area, located in the Majhgaon block on the Jharkhand-Odisha border. The team, comprising forest guards, Quick Response Teams (QRTs), rangers, and divisional forest officers, was bolstered by experts from the Vantara Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (VRRC), WildlifeSOS, and wildlife rescue squads from Odisha, Bengal, and Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
Despite surrounding the animal and making three separate attempts with dart guns, the "speedster" jumbo, as described by officials, dodged the tranquilizers each time, growing more furious. The operation utilized six heavy earth-moving machines and two cranes, but the foresters exhausted their time and energy chasing the tusker across a 30 square-kilometer radius.
Injuries, Deaths, and a Border Crossing
The operation turned dangerous for one of the rescuers. Sukhlal Behera, a forester with the Bengal wildlife rescue squad, was injured when the elephant forcefully hit him with its trunk, causing him to fall. Behera narrowly escaped death and is currently admitted to a government hospital in Odisha.
Earlier on Friday, the elephant trampled to death a 40-year-old villager and a minor boy at Kherpal village under the Hatgamharia police station limits. Officials stated the victims died when a large crowd gathered dangerously close to the elephant as it ran through fields in the Ghodbanda-Kherpal stretch.
After evading capture and disappearing on Thursday, the elephant managed to give the slip to the trained trackers and strayed into the Jashipur forest area of the Keonjhar forest division in neighbouring Odisha by late Friday.
Challenges of Crowd Management and Ongoing Threat
A senior forester involved in the operation highlighted that crowd management was a major uphill task, necessitating additional police force. He revealed that scores of villagers surrounded the forest area during capture attempts, yelling and screaming, which further agitated the elephant and compromised safety protocols.
Smita Prakash, the Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) for the Kolhan division, stated that teams equipped with heavy-duty LED lights remain camped at the site, as there is a strong possibility of the tusker straying back into Kolhan. As a precaution, vehicle movement along the NH320-D connecting Jharkhand to Odisha through Majhgaon has been temporarily prohibited, and residents of about 10 nearby villages have been advised to relocate to safer places.
This incident is part of a grim larger trend, with the state witnessing 27 elephant-related deaths in the last 23 days alone, underscoring the severe human-elephant conflict in the region.
