It was a tearful adieu to ‘Anarkali’ in Betla. A 15 metre white shroud covered her mortal remains. There were 100 kgs of salt and 50 kgs of lime for her fast decomposition. JCB machine dug out the grave. Wild life are buried or burnt where they die. An elephant here in the National Park Betla was burnt when it died of anthrax about ten years back.
Field Director PTR MP Singh was so emotionally choked that he passed on his cell phone to his DFO Core AK Mishra to give the details of the burial of the female beauty ‘Anarkali’ an elephant almost synonymous with the National Park.
Field Director Singh said ‘ There would be a memorial of this elephant. This memorial will be erected near the shelter of the deceased. The visitors here would be briefed about who this Anarkali was and how much she was popular here.
Anarkali’s running mate another elephant Juhi is too saddened and fails to understand she will now never spend her nights with Anarkali and will never also go to the park together with tourists on their top of the body.
Mishra said Juhi left food for Anarkali and went in to a kind of rage and demolished a 50 feet long concrete wall over the loss of Anarkali.
Asked that there could be drastic change in the behavior of Juhi DFO Core said ‘ This fear too haunts us. Juhi and Anarkali lived together for more than two decades. Now she will have to learn to live without Anarkali’.
Mishra said ‘ We have asked the mahout to bring child Rakhi elephant closer to Juhi to lessen her burden of sorrow and pain.’ He agreed Rakhi would not be any substitute for Anarkali but atleast Juhi would be in a position to communicate to her.
Post mortem conducting doctors have preserved Anarkali’s lungs kidney liver and tissues of heart. Anarkali died on Tuesday evening. Sources said the PTR officials took one hour to declare her dead as they tried all knowledge to explore if there was any life left in this highly critical sick female elephant Anarkali.
Sources said Anarkali’s death has again exposed the chink in the armour of PTR where there is no wild life expert vet doctor or surgeon. Sources said the PTR has been crying hoarse for a regular wild life expert vet doctor of its own but in vain.
Again there is no rescue centre of any order here which is a minimum facility in any tiger reserve. The PTR officials in crisis of this kind fall upon Barwadeeh based block level vet facilities and doctors.