H. Ramesh, a veterinarian, who was involved in the elephant capture operation in Yeslur Range of Forest, has said Arjuna, the tusker, died because of injuries he suffered in the fight with the wild elephant. He clarified that the animal suffered no bullet injury.
Dr. Ramesh, who has been working with the Forest Department for the last five-and-a-half-a-year, spoke to media on Sunday to give his version of the incident that led to death of Arjuna during the elephant capture operation on December 4. Many reports suggested that the elephant died due to bullet injuries.
The veterinarian said he was on Arjuna along with mahout Vinu and others on the day. He was prepared to fire a tranquillizer dart at the targeted tusker, identified for capture. “We were targeting a tusker, named Vikranth, for capture. However, our team noticed another problematic tusker in the same place. As a doctor, I prepared two separate doses of tranquillizer for two animals, considering the weight of each elephant. I was carrying one dose of tranquillizer loaded into the dart gun. I had set the pressure for the release when the wild tusker suddenly came running towards Arjuna. We, sitting on the Arjuna, suffered a jerk, and in the mileau, the dart was fired in the air, without my knowledge. The dart that went in the air finally landed on Prashantha, another tusker involved in the operation, he said. Arjuna did succeed in hitting back at the wild tusker and sending him away.
As Ramesh learnt about Prashanth being darted, the veterinarian rushed towards that elephant to administer emergency medicine to dilute the effect of tranquilizer. Arjuna’s mahout Vinu, had also joined him. “Within a few seconds, Prashantha recovered. However, on the other hand, the wild tusker had returned for a fight with Arjuna again. This time, I fired another dart to sedate the wild tusker. However, it did not work out. Arjuna died in the fight,” he said.
The veterinarian said there was no chance of firing bullet at Arjuna on the occasion. “We were carrying only the gun with which pellets could be fired. It would not kill elephants. And nobody opened fire. Arjuna did not suffer a bullet injury,” he said.
Further, he stated that he was involved in the capture of 65 elephants and himself darted 40 elephants. Besides that, he successfully darted seven tigers, more than 50 leopards, and 10 sloth bears. “I am also deeply hurt by the death of Arjuna. While people see Arjuna during Dasara celebrations, we live with elephants every day. The loss we are going through cannot be expressed in words,” he said.
