Angul: In a tragic turn of the events, ‘Kumki’ trained elephant ‘Yashoda’ which had been brought to help tranquilize tigress ‘Sundari’ today trampled an associate of its mahout to death today.
The deceased associate has been identified as Sudhir Munda (45).
The mishap took place while Munda was busy serving food to the elephant at Purunakote Forest Range Office, where it has been kept. It is suspected that the jumbo went berserk over late in serving of food and trampled the victim on the spot.
Forest officials immediately rushed to the spot to recover the body of the deceased after getting a tip-off on the incident.
Notably, after a repeated failure of almost 10 days to tranquilize and catch the Roayal Bengal tigress ‘Sundari’, the Forest Department on November 2 took ‘Kumki’ elephant ‘Yashoda’ from Chandaka forest to Satkosia for help. The tigress was caught with the help of ‘Yashoda’ on November 6.
Also Read: Tigress Sundari tranquilised in Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve
Ms Kalinga