An elephant of the Assam forest department trampled its mahout to death in Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary on Wednesday.
According to sources, the incident took place in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, 48 km away from Guwahati, at 3 pm on Wednesday.
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The deceased has been identified as 28-year-old Raju Das, a resident of Diprang village near Garanga Temple in Morigaon district.
He is survived by his wife and a one-and-a-half-year-old boy.
Also read: Assam: Two rhinos translocated from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary released in Manas National Park
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Raju Das, who was a casual labourer of the Assam forest department, was engaged as a mahout in the sanctuary just three months back.
Sources said the mahout died on the spot when the captive elephant suddenly attacked him in the wildlife sanctuary.
The cause of the attack is yet to be ascertained.
The elephant – Bikram – has records of attacking its mahouts earlier, sources said.
Bikram, which is the biggest elephant in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, is used for carrying tourists, who visit the sanctuary for site-seeing and avail of the elephant safari facility.
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which is known for one-horned rhinos, has no wild elephant.
It is located on the southern bank of river Brahmaputra in Morigaon district of Assam.
This sanctuary holds one of the largest Indian rhino populations in Assam.
On Tuesday morning, two rhinos — one adult male and one female —were transported from the sanctuary and released in the central part of Bansbari range of Assam’s Manas National Park (MNP).