Panna (Madhya Pradesh): A 55-year-old elephant is held captive in chains and shackels in the Panna Tiger Reserve after the elephant brutally killed its mahout Budhram Rotiya on Monday, said an official.
Ever since its arrival at the Panna Tiger Reserve in 1993, 'Rambahadur', a wild elephant, was trained and looked after by mahout Budhram Routia. In the two decades, 57-year-old Routia led the elephant on umpteen campaigns which involved formidable tasks like tranquilising tigers and maintaining a vigil in the forests.
"The elephant has become aggressive and dangerous. It escaped into the forest after killing the mahout and was caught after tranquilizing. We have put everyone on high alert, said Uttam Kumar Sharma, Field director.
"A team of forest workers and mahouts kept tracking Rambahadur throughout the night to prevent him from moving around the populated area. He has become so aggressive that the mahouts are being chased from 150 to 200 meters away. Despite it, the team kept chasing him and after a struggle of hours, he was caught near Hinauta Hathi Camp after tranquilizing, said the field director.
According to Uttam Sharma, elephant Ram Bahadur was brought to the reserve in 1993 from the forest of Chhattisgarh, aging approximately 26 years. Deceased mahout Budhram was taking care of the elephant since then. This elephant has also twice fatally attacked the world's oldest elephant, Vatsala.
