On Friday, the DAO decided to "kill" the tusker in accordance with National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act-1973. The act allows the authorities to kill "mad" elephants that kill people and damage properties.[break]
The meeting - attended by officials from the Chitwan National Park (CNP), local political leaders and representatives of buffer zone management committees - also decided to mobilize a team to search for the tusker. The team led by Dr. Kamal Gaire, senior veterinary officer of the CNP, has already started the search for the tusker.
According to Kamal Jung Kunwar, Spokesperson for the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), the elephant, after being captured, will be released again in the forest.“"But, when we release the tusker, we will fit a tracking device on it”" said Kunwar.“"If the elephant shows erratic behaviors again, and we are convinced that it has gone mad, we will kill it”"
The tusker, being searched by Dr Gaire´s team, had killed two locals in Madi area of Chitwan district in less than two weeks this month. Amar Bahadur Thapa Magar, 65, of Gardi VDC-1, and Buddhi Adhikari, 30, of Gardi VDC-4, were killed by the tusker. Two other locals were also injured by the elephant. Thapa and Adhikari were both attacked by the elephant in evening.
Elephants usually demonstrate aggressive behaviors during their mating season. They end up entering nearby villages in search of females as their unbalanced behavior lasts for a short period. But, this tusker has kept its destructive behavior for long, signifying high possibility of madness, the officials say.
Kunwar said both men were killed by the same tusker.“"For the last three months, locals living near the national park have been complaining about frequent elephant disturbances and this month, there have been loss of human lives”" said Yam Bahadur Pariyar, Chief of Chitwan National Park´s Buffer Zone Management Committee.
The human settlements near Madi area have been coping with wild elephant attacks for years. According to the report provided by Chitwan National Park (CNP), in 2009/10 elephant attacks had claimed 10 lives. But in 2011 the number of deaths caused by elephant attack had decreased to two.
It has been estimated that there are around 142 wild elephants across Nepal.
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