HT Correspondent
JORHAT, Oct 10: A female wild elephant (22 years) and her calf were killed and another elephant was injured after getting hit by the Dibrugarh to Delhi Rajdhani Express near Kharikatia Railway Station under Mariani range of Jorhat Forest division on Sunday night.
According to a Forest department source, the incident occurred at 10:50 pm when a herd of jumbos, likely to be from Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife sanctuary nearby, was crossing the railway tracks.
Mariani range officer Animesh Kalita, when contacted, said that as the train hit the animals, that were dragged over 300 metres, the about 10 month old male calf was found dead by Forest department personnel and the adult female elephant believed to be the mother was found some distance away with severe injuries and bleeding, but the pachyderm was alive.
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Kalita said that a veterinary doctor from Jorhat was taken to the spot to treat the injured elephant and a team from CWRC (Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation), Borjuri near Kaziranga was in its way.
The range officer said that though the local veterinary doctor tried to treat the jumbo, the animal succumbed to the multiple injuries and the CWRC team that had reached Jorhat at around 4:00 am returned back.
However, on Monday morning, another adult female elephant was sighted with a leg injury inside the Kharikatia Tea Estate and the animal was limping.
Kalita said that again the CWRC team was summoned and it reached the spot in the afternoon and administered antibiotics and pain relief medicines to the injured elephant by inserting the medicines into bananas which the elephant consumed.
The elephant which was earlier sitting later moved a bit in the late afternoon and fell into a ditch after which several attempts to take it out by using an excavator failed, the range officer said.
He said that a watch was being kept on the elephant by a Forest team.
Kalita further said that a post mortem of the two dead elephants was meanwhile conducted by a veterinary team and were buried near the spot .
When asked about whether the train had lowered the speed as required to be done while passing the elephant corridor, Kalita said that the Railway authorities were informed about the movement of a herd of elephants in the said area at about 8:20 pm on Sunday in a WhatsApp group shared with Forest and the Railway officials.
It appeared that the train did not reduce the speed limit to 30kms per hour at night as is mandatory in elephant corridors, the range officer said.
