Female elephant dies in Dudhwa due to liver problem

Lakhimpur Kheri, Sep 2 Tunga, a trained female elephant, has died after a prolonged live problem in Uttar Pradesh's Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR).

Tunga was brought from Karnataka in 2018 along with 10 other tuskers.

The eight-year-old pachyderm was one of the 26 government-owned elephants in Dudhwa, who are trained to do jobs like patrolling the rhino area, rescue operations during man-animal conflicts, as well as monsoon patrolling of the reserve and tourist rides.

DTR director Sanjay Pathak said: "Tunga had a liver problem. The viscera have been preserved and will be sent to IVRI, Bareilly for examination."

Pathak said that being young, Tunga was not deployed on a full-time job yet.

It is, mostly, at the age of 10 that these elephants get fully ready for such works. However, she was made accustomed to carry a 'howda' (a small cot) on her back for people to sit on.

After being brought from the southern state, Tunga along with other elephants, had also undergone a crash course in Hindi as they were used to getting instructions in the local language from the forest staff in Karnataka.

A team of forest staff from Dudhwa had gone to Karnataka to get familiar with the elephants. Later, when they were brought to Uttar Pradesh, their caretakers had also come along and stayed for some time.

"Rest of the elephants that were brought from Karnataka are healthy," said Pathak.