Meera Bhardwaj and Prajna GR By

Express News Service

BENGALURU/MADIKERI: In his wild past, he was the lord of all he surveyed —from Bengaluru to Magadi to Tumakuru. Ranga (48), the Bannerghatta tusker who once roamed the vanishing elephant paths around Bengaluru with his marauding gang, died in an accident near Mathigodu in Kodagu on Monday, less than two years after his capture.

Ranga, who was returning to the Mathigodu elephant camp after grazing in the forest, was hit by a private bus coming from Kannur to Bengaluru at around 3 am. He suffered a spinal injury and breathed his last after struggling for four hours. “It is a big loss to the forest department,” said principal chief conservator of forests Punati Sridhar. Ranga was being trained to be a prospective Howdah elephant of Mysuru Dasara.

Tall, sturdy and majestic with strong tusks, he was nevertheless gentle and well behaved in the camp, according to forest officials. When he was free, he was an aggressive, independent animal and a born leader — leading a group of eight elephants and nicknamed ‘Rowdy Ranga’. But he became docile after his capture and relocation.

Ranga, the elephant which died of injuries after an accident in Nagarhole on 8 October 2018. (Photo | EPS)

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The adventurous elephant roamed four forest divisions with gay abandon in search of food and water. For eight months, he would be in Magadi or Nelamangala forest ranges while in May-June, he would come down to Bannerghatta (during musth) for mating with captive females. After Ranga killed a forest watcher in 2016, the forest department ordered his capture.

The tusker was captured near Savandurga in Magadi taluk in December the same year and shifted to Mathigodu last year. After a free and active life in the wild, Ranga was kept in a kraal for seven months in Bannerghatta, tamed and domesticated to lead a captive life.

Forest department veterinarian Dr Mujeeb told TNIE that Ranga was cremated on Monday afternoon after

a postmortem. “Next year, he would have been ready for Dasara. A very well-behaved tusker, he was practising with mahouts,” he said.

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“All elephants at Mathigodu are let out in mornings and evenings. Till date, we had never seen such a road kill. He passed away due to severe injuries,” Forest department veterinarian Dr Mujeeb told The New Indian Express.

PCCF Sridhar said: “Several times, we had asked the PWD to install signboards for vehicles to limit their speed to 30km in the area. It has not been done. This is a very small road and visibility too is very less.”

Once Ranga led a group of 8 bull elephants and one of them was a makna (male elephant without tusks).

Another member of this group, Sidda, died after months of suffering due to a fall in the Machinabele dam.

This all-male group is reported to have strayed from the main herds and formed their own alliance. During dry season, they raided horticultural crops.

With complaints pouring in, this group was identified, tracked and captured — some died, two were electrocuted and a few relocated. Now, none of them are alive.