Flood-hit elephant that travelled 1,700km dies

Bangladeshi villagers gather as wildlife experts attend to the elephant that washed up in a swamp after being caught up in raging floodwaters. (Photo: AP)

An elephant thought to have travelled at least 1,700 kilometres from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods died on Tuesday despite last-ditch efforts to save him.

The distressed animal was tranquillised three times in sometimes dramatic bids to try to transport him to a safari park in Bangladesh, after he washed across the border in late June.

He was eventually given huge amounts of saline and chained in a paddy field in a northern village to help him recover, but he was “too weak and tired” from his ordeal, officials said.

“It breathed its last at around 7 am (0100 GMT),” the government’s chief wildlife conservator Ashit Ranjan Paul said. “We have given our highest effort to save the animal. At least 10 forest rangers, vets and policemen have constantly followed it for the last 48 days. But our luck is bad,” he said.

Local media blamed excessive tranquillising for the animal’s death, saying he became too weak to stand. But Paul said the long journey was responsible, adding that rescue efforts had been hampered by the thousands of curious villagers following him. “It had been separated from its herd for some two months and did not get the nutrients that it needed,” he said.