CHITWAN: The wild elephant ‘Dhrube’, which has taken twenty-five lives, is set to be brought under control to have its tusks trimmed short. The elephant’s tusks were also cut two years ago.

Preparations are underway to tranquilize the elephant, trim its tusks, and install a new radio collar, according to Chief Conservation Officer of the park, Dil Bahadur Purja Pun.

The elephant took the lives of two members of the same family last Saturday night. Including that incident, Officer Purja Pun stated that a total of 25 people have died due to this same elephant. According to him, the elephant has been under continuous monitoring since the incident.

On Monday evening, the elephant struck the gate of a community forest in Golaghat, Meghauli, and ate grain from two local houses. He said, “We are on standby; we will ‘dart’ it as soon as it is found, after which we plan to cut its tusks and fit a new radio collar.” The preparation for the new installation comes after the previously fitted radio collar failed to provide timely information.

The radio collar to be fitted on the elephant has already arrived. Once the device is installed, it will be easier to receive information when the elephant enters settlements and alert locals to take precautions.

Last Saturday night, Dhrube killed 21-year-old Ashika Bote and her four-year-old son, Bharat Bote, in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-23. After attacking the mother and son, Dhrube fled and reached the Sukhibhar area of the park.

While they were sitting inside their house on Saturday night, Ashika’s husband tried to light a fire to drive away Dhrube, who had suddenly come from the jungle, causing the house to catch fire and be completely destroyed.

After attacking and killing a Nepal Army officer in 2017, Dhrube took the lives of the mother and son nearly nine years later. Known as the elephant that has killed the most people in Chitwan National Park, an order to kill Dhrube was issued around 2011/2012 when it began taking human lives almost daily.

The local administration decided to kill the elephant after it killed four people in Madi alone within a span of one month starting from October/November 2012. Dhrube, which started attacking and killing humans in January/February 2010, had already taken 15 lives by 2012. Radio collars have been repeatedly fitted on Dhrube’s neck and its tusks have been trimmed over time.

The park houses wild male elephants named Ronaldo, Govinde, and Dhrube, among others. The park’s female elephants breed with these male elephants.

According to Chief Conservation Officer Purja Pun, there are 45 to 50 wild elephants inside the park. Other elephants have not caused trouble in the area.

Preparations are underway by the park, the disaster management committee, and other stakeholder organizations to rebuild the house that was destroyed by the elephant and subsequently caught fire.