Laden, the rogue elephant that was captured on November 11 in Goalpara district of Assam, died in captivity on Sunday morning.
The elephant was tranquillized at Rongjuli forest division of Goalpara district after it had wreaked havoc and killed five people within 24 hours.
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The elephant was being relocated to Orang National Park to be held captive under the supervision of Assam Forest Department.
The dead elephant, who was later named as Krishna, was tranquillized by a team of experts led by MLA Padma Hazarika.
Padma Hazarika is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Sootea legislative constituency.
It has been alleged that the rogue elephant died due to overdose of tranquillizers.
Renowned veterinarian Dr Kushal Sarma and Assam State Zoo veterinarian Dr Panchami Sarma left for Orang to take stock of the situations out there.
"Forest officials first planned to release Laden in the wild, however, later they decided to keep in captivity at Orang," said a forest official.
"We decided to keep the elephant in our captivity after people protested against the government's decision of releasing it in the wild," the official added.
Laden was aged around 35-year-old and was scheduled to undergo 'Kraal' training module for taming his rogue behaviour.
"Even though overdose of tranquillizers has been reported as the cause of death initially, however, it is not certain yet," the official added.
"The exact reason of Laden's death can only be ascertained after carrying out a detailed autopsy," the official seeking anonymity added.
Now Laden dead, the villagers of the Matia village in Goalpara can sleep in relief, but the question remains- is it over?
The man-elephant conflict is it over with Laden's death or there would be born many more Ladens in the following days?
Elephants, in most of the places across the globe, have gone rogue because there has been a loss of habitat.
It is time that society stands up and take measures for mitigating man-elephant conflict.
Until we reach an amicable solution, the death or captivating one Laden is not going to solve anything. This is only a temporary solution.
The Story Mug, a Guwahati-based blogzine, believes in telling stories that matter.