After four- day- long operation, a joint team of Rajaji National Park and Haridwar forest division on Friday morning trapped the elephant which had trampled three persons to death.
The foresters heaved a sigh of relief after the jumbo was finally trapped following several aborted attempts. It was traced near the gate in BHEL on Thursday night, but the attempt to trap it failed due to the darkness. The jumbo scare running in the area, the local vegetable market neat Tibdi could not be held for two consecutive days.
On Friday morning, the elephant was tranquilised by the joint team. The foresters informed that the pachyderm was successfully administered the tranquilising injection at around 7 am. “But it ran around in the forest area even after the injection was given. However, we made sure that it did not go back to the forest as it did earlier,” said a forester.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Haridwar divisional forest officer Akash Verma said, “The elephant would be kept at the elephant camp under observation. We might train it.”
Earlier, several operations to trap the elephant over the past few days proved futile. The foresters said that the elephant had been caught at the BHEL gate on the first day of the operation.
“But we could not carry on the operation after the evening fell. The following day, the elephant was tranquilised inside the forest, but even in that state, it found its way back in the forest.This time we were cautious,” the forest officer said.
It is further learnt that the elephant would be kept at the training camp at Chilla. It might be used for patrolling purposes by the forest team. There are just two elephants in the Chilla range – Radha and Rangeeli- which are being used in forest patrolling.
