KATHMANDU: A domesticated elephant at Sauraha in Chitwan is found to have got its trunk cut off.

Around 6 inches of the elephant’s trunk was cut off from its tip with a sharpened weapon at around 11:30 pm on Tuesday night, said elephant owner Dipendra Khatiwada, also the former president of the restaurant and bar association in Sauraha.

He came to know about the incident when the elephant cried in pain, he said, adding that the motive behind the incident was to kill the animal.

The cut-off part of the animal could not be fixed, and vets and technicians at the Chitwan National Park and the National Nature Conservation Trust were discussing the treatment of the injured 45-year-old elephant named Chanchalkali, he said.

The police have launched an investigation into the incident with the help of the CPN, said Superintendent of Police Rameshwor Karki.

The elephant tamed by tourism entrepreneur Khatiwada was kept along with other two domesticated elephants on the way to the local Baghmara community forest when the incident occurred, it has been said.