Similipal Tiger Reserve’s (STR) most famous Kumki elephant, Mahendra, who had earlier survived bullet attacks by the land mafia in 2009 and rendered a yeoman’s service over the years for the Odisha forest department, passed away on Sunday night.

The 66-year-old tusker died of old-age related ailments at the Chala base camp inside the Similipal Tiger Reserve located in Mayurbhanj district. In its early days, the tusker had sustained a bullet injury while patrolling the dense forest areas in Simlipal. Later, it recovered and was engaged in duty again.

Recalling the incident, former honorary wildlife warden Bhanu Mitra Acharya told The Telegraph, “On March 28, 2009, land mafia in the garb of Maoists attacked forest officials and Mahendra. Mahendra sustained eight bullet injuries. It also sustained grievous injuries from the arrow shoots of land mafias. But an undeterred Mahendra and two other elephants chased them for 24km from Gudgadia to Jashipur and foiled their attempts.”

The grand tusker had been brought from Rajiv Gandhi National Park in Karnataka along with two other females —Sobha and Bhabani — in 2001 to assist the Odisha forest department officials in combating the wood mafias that were active then. The domesticated animal was used for patrolling purposes in the dense Similipal forest to save the tigers from poachers and the sal and teak wood from mafias. He was known for his excellent demeanour and obeying his master’s commands.

Acharya said, “We had spent a lot of days with him in patrolling different areas. Mahendra was the hero of the Similipal Tiger Reserve. It was also taken to Ganjam in Southern Odisha to be engaged in chasing away the elephants in early 2000 when the elephants from Andhra used to create havoc in the areas adjoining Andhra Pradesh and destroyed the paddy. The operation was successful.”

Mahendra was also used for tranquilisaton purposes. Sitting atop it, the forest officials tranquilised wild animals. It was also used to keep a track on the movement of the tiger Sundari which had been translocated from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha’s Satkoshia forest in 2018.

It was even about to leave Similipal to bring three-year-old Zeenat who had strayed into Bengal, but the news of the successful tranquillisation of Zeenat, stopped Odisha government’s move to send Mahindra to Bengal.

Forest officials said “Mahendra died at Chala camp in Similipal area in Mayurbhanj district. It stopped eating from Saturday morning. The tusker had been unwell for the last few days. Post mortem will be conducted to ascertain the reasons of death.” Mahendra was father to two calves.