GUWAHATI: A BJP MLA in Assam on Monday took the lead in capturing a wild elephant by tranquilizing it.
While a section of social media users praised him for the daring act, others described it as his publicity stunt.
“My cousin shot the first dart. I shot the second one. Before our actions, we had sought the advice of vets who were accompanying us,” the Sootea MLA, Padma Hazarika, told journalists.
The jumbo had unleashed a reign of terror, killing five people in Lower Assam’s Goalpara district last month.
“We will try to heal its wounds. Laden, who terrorized people, is now with us,” the MLA proudly proclaimed.
Usually, an elephant, which has taken the lives of people in multiple incidents, is named Laden by the locals in Assam. The state’s Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said the team had not tranquilized Laden but another elephant that was “musth”. The Laden in question, which killed several other people in multiple attacks in the district, is dead according to a survey by the forest department, he said.
Musth is the periodic condition in male elephants characterized by highly aggressive behaviour and accompanied by a great rise in reproductive hormones.
Suklabaidya said the MLA was included in a committee, formed to capture the elephant, as chief advisor. His family has owned and grown up with elephants for generations.
“We used his experience. We had also roped in other people who raised elephants or grew up with them,” the minister said.
“He might have tranquilized the animal but there were forest department officials including vets with him. So, it’s not that he was leading the operation alone,” Suklabaidya said.
He said now efforts would be made to domesticate the elephant. If that does not work, the department will weigh other options, he added.
Over the past seven days or so, the movement of the elephant was tracked with drones.