A 20-year-old tusker that repeatedly crossed the Son river at Bansagar reservoir and moved through forest divisions in Madhya Pradesh has been brought back to a secure monitoring area after a 30-hour operation involving nearly 100 forest personnel, four trained elephants and three wildlife veterinarians.
Known as Radio Collar-4, the elephant had been moving between Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Shahdol and Maihar forest divisions for months. Forest officials said his movements through villages, grazing areas and standing crops followed earlier incidents involving human deaths, livestock losses and crop damage.
The elephant was originally brought from Chhattisgarh and rescued on May 22 after the reported incidents in the Keshwahi forest range of South Shahdol division. Officials fitted him with a radio collar and released him the following day in the Bagdara beat of Khitoli range in Bandhavgarh. He initially travelled alone before joining a herd of 12 elephants on June 26.
Over the following weeks, Radio Collar-4 moved through Khitoli, Dhamokhar, Kalwah, Magadhi, Umaria and Shahdol. On September 7, he crossed the Son from the Panpatha buffer area and reached Amarpatan range in Maihar division. The crossing took eight to 10 hours, with the elephant resting on an island midway.
He returned across the reservoir on the night of September 28-29, swimming roughly nine kilometres in eight to nine hours. About a month later, and around two weeks before the rescue, he crossed Bansagar again and went back towards Amarpatan before moving between forest beats.
The operation began at 10am on November 11. The team immobilised the elephant with a tranquiliser dart late that night and removed his radio collar after he was sedated. He was then secured in a specially designed rescue vehicle and transported overnight through Gorsari, Amarpatan, Maihar, Katni, the Umaria bypass, Parasi, Magadhi and Mili grassland.
The elephant reached a temporary secure monitoring area in Kalwah range of Bandhavgarh on the afternoon of November 12. Officials said he was calm and stable after being released into the enclosure. Wildlife veterinarians and the Kalwah range team will monitor his health and movements.
Teams from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Maihar forest division and Mukundpur Zoo participated in the rescue. Bandhavgarh contributed about 20 officers and staff, Sanjay 10, Maihar around 60 and Mukundpur Zoo 15. The trained elephants involved were Gautam, Surya and Shyam from Bandhavgarh and Bapu from Sanjay Tiger Reserve.
The medical team comprised Dr Rajesh Tomar of Bandhavgarh, Dr Nitin Gupta of Mukundpur Zoo and Dr Abhay Sengar of Sanjay Tiger Reserve. The operation was conducted under principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden Dr Samita Rajora, with guidance from Bandhavgarh field director Dr Anupam Sahay, Rewa Circle conservator of forests Anurag Kumar and Maihar divisional forest officer Vidya Bhushan.
The forest department said the intervention was intended to prevent further human-elephant conflict while keeping the animal safe. Monitoring at the secure enclosure is the next official step after the rescue.
