(IN): Standing once again - Crane puts jumbo back on feet

[Guest guest]

*What a contrast !*

 

*While the Nepalese police carries on with its massacre of elephant herds,

across the border it is a different scene.*

 

*Commendable job this by the West Bengal forest authorities.*

 

*Azam*

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090713/jsp/siliguri/story_11228976.jsp

 

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*Standing once again

- Crane puts jumbo back on feetOUR CORRESPONDENT*

 

*Alipurduar, July 12:* A crane was hired to treat a *kunki*(trained

elephant) whose hind leg had been giving it trouble for sometime. The animal

has stood up once again and its condition has improved, thanks to the crane,

foresters said.

 

Shakuntala, the *kunki* in Holong pilkhana of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary,

had a swelling on its hind left leg. It often limped around and moved on

three legs. The*kunki* had another problem: it would flee to the forest

frequently and other pet elephants had to be used to bring it back.

 

On Friday, the forest employees noticed that the animal’s front right leg,

too, had swelled. The same night Shakuntala fell to the ground and could not

stand up. Yesterday morning, Ranjan Talukdar, the in-charge of the Holong

range, tried to make Shakuntala stand with the help of the other *kunkis*,

but could not. “Elephants should not be allowed to sit for long because

their lungs may collapse from their own weight. So we had to make Shakuntala

stand somehow. Then we hit upon the idea of a crane,” said Proloy Mandal,

the vet of Jaldapara.

 

The crane was hired from Hasimara, 20km from here. Around 6pm yesterday, as

the crane held up the 3-tonne elephant, a large number of cushions were

arranged below its belly. For 13 hours the elephant was kept in the same

position — its body resting against the mattress from 6pm yesterday to 7am

today — and calcium and vitamins administered intravenously. Thirty bottles

of saline, too, were given. After the crane was detached this morning, the

elephant could stand on its own. Today, it also ate some grass, though

slowly. Yesterday it had been kept on a diet of *khichri*.

 

Omprakash, the divisional forest officer of Wildlife III, said: “Shakuntala

seems to have responded to the treatment. We rarely use cranes, but we have

been successful this time.”

 

Elephant shot dead

 

An elephant is suspected to have been shot dead at Bamandangi in Nepal on

Saturday evening, reports our Siliguri correspondent. Forest officers of

Darjeeling and Kurseong said the body of the male elephant was found in the

forest of the neighbouring country.

 

“The body was spotted at Sunnychowk, located 3km from the border,” an

officer of the Darjeeling forest division (wildlife-I) said.

 

According to the foresters, a herd of about 30 elephants was roaming in the

Kalabari forest under Kurseong forest division, over the past couple of

days. The herd frequently entered the adjacent Bamondangi forest and the

deceased animal was perhaps one in the group that crossed the border last

night.

 

Describing the incident as an “inhuman act”, Bengal forest minister Ananta

Roy said: “I am going to refer the incident to the chief minister so that he

recommends intervention of the central government.”

 

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