A wild tusker, which regained its health after undergoing treatment for a wound in the right front limb, was found limping inside Dalma wildlife sanctuary on Sunday afternoon.

The 10-year-old elephant was found limping near Konkadasa inside the sprawling 192 sq km sanctuary, 30 km from Jamshedpur and was in apparent pain.

The tusker underwent a four-day treatment under the care of Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, Ranchi vet Ajay Kumar and his Tata Steel Zoological Park counterpart Manik Palit, near the Kashjobi watering hole earlier this month.

Dalma divisional forest officer CMP Sinha asked Palit to treat the elephant. “The tusker is still limping and is in apparent pain. We are worried tablets were mixed in gourds and bananas before giving it to the tusker from a distance of 20 ft. We are happy that the elephant took the medicines,” he said.

The DFO, however, said the elephant was giving a tough time to those tracing it, since the animal keeps disappearing. “It isn’t practically possible to keep a tab on the elephant in the sprawling sanctuary. It was a sigh of relief for us when the tusker was found near Konkadasa,”Sinha said.

Palit said the elephant will be under treatment for at least 5 days. “I have prescribed medicines. We gave oral medication on Sunday. The elephant is still limping,” he added.

The tusker was reunited with its herd after treatment earlier this month but had left the Dalma sanctuary. Now it has come back, but seems to have separated from the herd again.

Sinha said it is important to treat the tusker, and the limp has made them worried.

“The elephant had regained health after treatment. Now, we are again going to trace the tusker for treatment on Monday. It’s a wild animal and elephants are moody by nature. But we have to continue providing the required treatment before it regains its health,” Sinha added.