Ailing elephant Lakshmi breathed her last inside Dalma wildlife sanctuary on Saturday late evening. The over 60-year-old female elephant had fallen ill on Saturday morning. Government veterinary doctors though tried their best to revive her condition but their efforts went in vain. Bottles of saline and injection were used to save her but nothing could save her.
-Lakshmi (also called Ramavati) was rescued from the clutches of mahouts in Deogarh and brought to Dalma sanctuary for rehabilitation in March last year, lived with two other female jumbos Champa and Rajni under a shed near the entrance gates at Makulakocha . The elephant had an injury in her left hind leg.
She was laid to rest inside the sanctuary in the presence of Dalma officials. A crane was pressed into action to lift the carcass to the burial site.
Notably Dalma is the best elephant habitat of Jharkhand, where the pachyderms love to spend their summer. Dalma used to be pleasing with temperatures less than 30 degrees C. The availability of water during summer is all the more alluring for the elephants to migrate. There are over 80 elephants in the Dalma sanctuary. The elephants often have the tendency to go into agricultural fields adjoining the sanctuary in search of food. The forest department has made arrangements to keep them anchored in Dalma, by providing water and greenery.