A female elephant with a bullet wound to the eye died in Ramu after weeks of suffering, while a grieving herd gathered beside the carcass before returning to the hills.
A female elephant with a gunshot wound to the eye has died in Cox’s Bazar’s Ramu upazila, with forest officials suspecting the animal had been shot about a month earlier.
The elephant died at around 11:00 pm on Saturday in the Purnagram area of Khutakhali union, according to forest department officials. The area lies near the border of Naikhongchhari upazila in Bandarban.
Local residents first found the mother elephant lying in critical condition in the area on Saturday afternoon. Weak and severely ill, the animal was unable even to stand. A three-year-old calf was seen moving around beside it and repeatedly crying out, residents said.
After being informed by locals, staff from the Eidgaon Range of the Cox’s Bazar North Forest Division went to the spot.
Eidgaon Range officer Uzzal Hossain said the elephant was in an extremely critical condition when forest workers reached Purnagram and was unable to move. The veterinary surgeon of Dulahazara Safari Park was immediately informed for treatment, he said, but could not come because it was already night. Medicine was then administered to the elephant following the veterinarian’s prescription, but it died at about 11:00 pm.
Uzzal Hossain said that after the mother elephant died, a herd of 10 to 12 elephants came down from the hills. The elephants stayed beside the carcass for some time, calling out and rumbling, before the grieving herd returned to the hills.
He said the carcass was buried on Sunday and a general diary was filed with Ramu police station over the incident.
Veterinary surgeon Mostafizur Rahman, who conducted the post-mortem examination, said a 10-inch-deep wound was found in the elephant’s left eye. Several pellets were recovered from the injured area.
He said the elephant died from an infection caused by lead pellets inside the eye.
Mostafizur Rahman added that the elephant had been shot with a locally made muzzle-loading gun while roaming in the hills and that it was fired with the intention of killing the animal.
Forest department officials said they had received information from local residents two to three weeks ago that a wild elephant was moving around in poor health in Baishari union of Naikhongchhari upazila and in the forest areas of Ramu and Eidgaon in Cox’s Bazar. The elephant was accompanied by a calf, they said.
Officials said they searched in different places at the time but could not locate the animal.
