Elephant in the city

No, Dhaka City was not a theme park, nor was there any attempt to recreate mammoths after the Jurassic Park's fashion but still the visit of the largest land species to the city's commercial hub caused quite a commotion. Fortunately for the Dhakaites, not a horde of Elephants made it a point to have a look at the city's busiest centre. Just one member of the species, considered the next most intelligent animal on this planet after the humans, came loitering.

No wonder, the behemoth's courtesy call to the city alerted the law enforcement agencies who have no expertise or experience either in handling or hosting such an unlikely guest. Also they figured out that there was more risk than they could gain from milking the situation. After all, an elephant is not a criminal. If it has encroached upon territories not allotted for it, the knowledge is foreign to it. Even if it were aware of its encroachment, it could not care less when its curiosity to pay a visit to the capital proved overpowering.

Naturally, the police were in a great dilemma. They dared not accost it nor assault it for possession of yaba for squeezing money out of the animal. Someone from among the contingent then found a smart way of dealing with the unusual situation. The team agreed to his proposal of contacting with officials of the Forest Department. It was small hours of the night. To their credit, a couple of forest officials immediately responded to the crisis call.

Now began the arduous job of guiding the big animal out of the busy roads. It is not clear if the mammoth is a wild one that has strayed out of forest. The chance of happening this is very slim because in that case, one such animal has to traverse a long way from the hills in the country's east. Nor is there any indication that it has escaped a zoo or a circus. No report has shed light on this aspect of the story. Can it be that it is one of those elephants that are used for collecting inam or extortion money from shops and passers-by while their mahuts (rider, trainer or keeper) mounts on their backs?

Be that what it may, the elephant was not obliging the police-forester party. If wild, there is no question of responding favourably by the animal to their directions. Even if tamed, it was unfamiliar with the party and had every reason to feel offended by gestures not accustomed to. It took quite an effort for the party to gradually and patiently guide the elephant to the direction of Shahjahanpur. Even it was not enough until the animal could be herded to a quiet and lonely place for the next course of action.

The next course of action obviously was administration of tranquiliser. After frantic attempts, a dose of tranquiliser was shot into its body. But it took quite a long time before the sedative took effect. Finally, the enormous animal was in a state of trance. Now it was hauled into a truck for ferrying to the Gazipur Safari Park. This task was, fortunately accomplished without much hassle. A picture carried in different newspapers shows that it then stood up and behave admirably well. It is good know that the largest visitor to the city was finally released in that park to the satisfaction of all.