The recent death of 27 year old subjugated elephant ‘Raja’ in an encounter with a wild tusker has raised many questions on the protection of trained jumbos in the Rajaji National Park and Tiger Reserve for which the park has been known so far.
Raja was killed in an attack by a wild tusker on Friday night. The wild pachyderm believed to be in musth had come to check on the female elephant in captivity at elephant compound in the park. The wild tusker saw Raja, the lone bull rival in the compound, thought of eliminating him. He broke the wall constructed a decade ago to keep wild animals at bay and thrust his tusks in the lungs of Raja who was chained and could not do much to save himself.
Found as an abandoned infant aged about six months- Raja, was brought to Rajaji National Park in the year 1992 after his mother had died after being hit by a passenger train in a mishap which also resulted in the death of three elephants in total. Since then Raja had developed strong bonds with the park jumbos Radha and Rangeeli, the two female elephants who gave her affection of a mother. Raja, Radha and Rangeeli and three other calves were the favorite attraction for the tourists. Raja was also used for safari purposes for tourists since Radha and Rangeeli have grown old over the years.
Speaking to The Pioneer, former honorary wildlife warden of Rajaji, Rajiv Mehta said, “We all were so attached to Raja. I remember when we brought him to the RTR in 1992 when he was found roaming near Motichur where the passenger train had hit its mother and two others. A deeper concern is that the compound wall constructed at the cost of crores of rupees is not an elephant-proof wall contrary to what it is meant to be. The elephant could easily break it.”
The mahaout of Raja, Khalil Rahman in RTR was away to his village for a day for Eid celebrations when this incident happened. No one came to Raja’s rescue and he kept fighting the battle for his life alone.
Notably, in the past one year, as many as 17 elephants have been killed in the Rajaji National park either by electrocution or some other accident, natural deaths are very less, claim the observers. local activists have raised concern over the poor quality of wall which would be broken so easily by the elephant. The brows are raised even over the functioning of chief wild life warden.
“The chief wildlife warden is very insensitive towards wild life of which he is expected to be the warden. The staff are not motivated and they are not properly trained. Whenever some forester is killed by a wild animal, the said official he does not even tend to visit the bereaved family to express condolence. Just a couple of months ago when a leopard had killed a forester, it took two months for us to fight for getting ex gratia for his family members,” alleges Rajiv Mehta.
When asked the chief wildlife warden DVS Khati said, “It is not the question of quality of wall or unavailability of staff. Elephant is a powerful animal and hathikhana in any park is always kept open to maintain hygiene. We have to maintain aeration and space. It is natural during the musth period when wild elephants attack even in forests and are killed. By the time our staff members reached in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, the 50 year old tusker had already pierced Raja’s lungs with its long tusks.” Building pucca structure is not possible for captive elephants, he added.