india

Updated: Nov 14, 2019 03:36 IST

A wild elephant in Assam nicknamed Laden, who was captured on Monday has been renamed as Krishna, and will now be domesticated and trained.

The 25-year-old male elephant, which had killed five persons in separate incidents on October 29 in Goalpara district, was tranquilised and captured inside Kanyakuchi reserve forest on Monday.

While officials initially said that it would be released in Lumding reserve forest nearly 300 km away, they now say that ‘Krishna’ will be first treated for its wounds and trained by a group of larger domesticated elephants. “Right now the elephant is being treated for injuries at Orang National Park. We are not in favour of releasing the elephant in this state. Once it recovers and get used to human interaction, efforts will be undertaken to train it,” said Chief Wildlife Warden Mahendra Kumar Yadav. While officials are tight-lipped, protests by local residents near Lumding reserve forest and the Orang national park over fears that the pachyderm could target human habitations again, have led to change of plans.

Following its capture on Monday, the pachyderm was kept at Kanyakuchi reserve for one night. On Tuesday, it was placed on the back of a truck using a crane and transported to Orang, around 200 km away. “In Assam, usually smaller elephants are trained, but since this elephant is big, much bigger elephants would be used to train it,” said Rathin Barman, joint director of Wildlife Trust of India.