A sad end to rescue mission for elephant trapped in swamp 1,700km from Indian home
Floodwaters carried the male elephant from upstream India before he became trapped in a swamp in Bangladesh’s Jamalpur district
An adult Indian elephant that became trapped in a swamp in Bangladesh after being caught in raging floodwaters has died after weeks of struggling for survival.
Tapan Kumar Dey, a former forest conservator who was overseeing the rescue operation, said the elephant died despite the “highest efforts” to save it.
“This is very sad. We tried our best to save it,” Dey said.
The cause of the death of the elephant named “Bangabahadur”, or Hero of Bengal, was not immediately clear, though local media blamed excessive tranquillising for the animal’s death, saying he became too weak to stand.
But the government’s chief wildlife conservator Ashit Ranjan Paul said the long journey was responsible, adding that rescue efforts had been hampered by the thousands of curious villagers following him.