Clueless officials to tag raging jumbo with radio collar

Garhwal:Having failed to catch a rogue elephant who has been on a killing spree in the region, forest officials here have decided to tag it with a radio collar and trace its movements.

The pachyderm, which has killed five persons and injured many in the vicinity of Rishikesh-Chilla forests in past three months, was declared 'dangerous' due to its aggressive and unpredictable behaviour.

Officials in September had issued an order to shoot it but later reverted it on the request of wildlife lovers.

On the advice of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) experts, the officials yesterday decided to tranquilise the animal and tag it with a radio collar before shifting it to its traditional habitat in the Terai regions, chief forest conservator of forest (Garhwal) H S Khati said.

The jumbo has literally been playing hide-and-seek with the clueless officials, foiling all their efforts to nab it.

Earlier, three elephants were also brought to the region from Corbett National Park to facilitate the capturing.