CHITWAN: Wildlife authorities are preparing to tranquilize the notorious wild elephant known as Dhurbe, trim its tusks and fit it with a new radio collar after the animal’s latest fatal attack raised its death toll to 25.
Chief Conservation Officer Dil Bahadur Pun of Chitwan National Park said the operation will be carried out once the elephant is located. The tusks were previously trimmed two years ago.
“The team is on standby. As soon as the elephant is spotted, we will dart it, trim its tusks and install a new radio collar,” Pun said, adding that the existing tracking device is no longer providing timely location updates.
The latest attack occurred on Saturday night when Dhurbe killed a 21-year-old woman, Ashika Bote, and her four-year-old son, Bharat Bote, in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-23. The elephant later moved towards the Sukhivar area inside the national park.
Authorities said the new radio collar has already arrived and will allow park officials to monitor the elephant’s movements more effectively and alert nearby communities whenever it approaches human settlements.
Dhurbe is considered the deadliest wild elephant in Chitwan National Park. It first began attacking people in 2010, and by 2012 had already killed 15 people, prompting authorities to issue an order to shoot the animal. Instead, park officials opted to monitor it using radio collars and periodically trim its tusks to reduce the risk of fatal attacks.
After killing a Nepal Army officer in 2017, the elephant did not claim another human life for nearly nine years until Saturday’s attack on the mother and son.
According to park officials, Chitwan National Park is home to around 45 to 50 wild elephants. Authorities said Dhurbe remains the only elephant responsible for repeated fatal attacks, while preparations are also underway to rebuild the house destroyed during Saturday night’s incident.
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