Expert opinion for injured jumbos

JALPAIGURI: Forest department officials have sought opinion from experts working in north Bengal forests for treating the elephants injured on the train tracks on Saturday. "I have asked our officers posted there to get in touch with the organizations that work on wild life. We have to do whatever it takes to save the elephants. We cannot just let them die," said SB Mondol, principal chief conservator of forests, wild life.

Five days have passed since the incident, but the forest department is still clueless on what to do to help the ailing jumbos. Although SK Ghosh, senior veterinary surgeon from Alipore Zoo, came here on Monday to treat the elephants and is doing everything possible, they are not responding to the medicines. Both the jumbos have had their backbones broken by the train impact and their survival chances are very low.

Two medical teams – one at Dyna and another at Gorumara – are treating the animals round the clock under the supervision of Ghosh. The department is finding it difficult to reach out to the elephant stranded at Dyna forest due to the presence of other wild elephants, which seem to guard their mate. "The condition of the other one which was brought to Gorumara is deteriorating everyday and nothing could be done," a senior forester said. Meanwhile, Mondol has ruled out any possibility of killing the injured elephants to free them from the pain. "Although there is a rule, we are not going to kill the animals. We will try till the end," he said.