A probe is underway to find out if an elephant that died while being captured in Jhargram on Saturday was the rogue that allegedly killed six persons in eight days.
The inquiry has also been entrusted with finding out the reasons for the death.
A section of forest officials and some residents of the area said the elephant that was darted was a female, alleging that those in charge of capturing the animal had chosen the wrong target.
The killings had been attributed to a male elephant, which forest officials claimed to have captured on Saturday morning in the Kajla forest in Jhargram. But the animal died after being darted and the body was sent to the Jhargram Zoological Park for post-mortem.
“We have ordered an inquiry to ascertain the facts. We were informed that the captured elephant was a male. But the possibility of a mix-up in targeting a rogue elephant cannot be ruled out. The post mortem report should help in ascertaining the gender,” said Soumitra Dasgupta, head of the forest force in Bengal.
A.P. Singh, chief conservator of forests (western circle), denied the allegations that a wrong elephant had been targetted. “We are sure that it was the rogue elephant. There is a possibility that it could be an intersex animal (possessing the characteristics of both sexes). If it were a female, why would it be a loner? The post-mortem report is awaited,” he said.
Several videos and still pictures of the purported operation shared with The Telegraph, some of them by forest department insiders, were sent to three elephant experts. This newspaper has not verified the authenticity of the videos.
All of them told this newspaper that the purported videos and pictures suggested that the captured elephant was a female. “It looks like a female, based on the overall body shape and the genitalia. Males have broader shoulders,” said Aritra Kshettry, a wildlife biologist who leads the elephant programme of WWF-India.
“Males stay alone. Females stay with a herd except when injured or unable to keep up with the herd. Females have been known to be aggressive if they lose their calf or disturbed by males,” said Kshettry, who has studied elephants in Bengal over the past decade.
Subrata Pal Chowdhury, a tranquillising expert who is now retired, also said the pictures suggested that the elephant was a female.
“But whether male or female, death after darting is not the desirable outcome. The dosage used in the dart guns varies according to the gender and age,” said Pal Chowdhury, who has darted over 100 elephants.
A retired forest official, who has served as chief wildlife warden of Bengal, too, said “it looked like a female”.