Adult wild elephant found dead in Jhapa’s Panchpokhari Community Forest

KATHMANDU: An adult wild elephant, approximately 55 years old, was found dead in Jhapa, Buddhashanti Rural Municipality-5 Panchpokhari community forest on Wednesday morning.

Local residents discovered the carcass inside the forest and promptly alerted forest officials, said Bharat Babu Shrestha, Chief of the Division Forest Office, Jhapa.

The elephant, named “Ghumante Gaj” (the roaming elephant) by wildlife conservationists, had been suffering from illness for quite some time. “We brought in veterinarians through the National Nature Conservation Fund and administered treatment four times,” Shrestha explained. “Despite all efforts, we could not save the elephant.”

As the elephant became too weak to graze, a youth group from Mechinagar, the Rapid Response Team (RRT), regularly provided food such as bananas, wild figs, and tarul in the forest to sustain it.

Wildlife conservation activist Shankar Luintel noted that local elephants roaming in Jhapa’s forests are often given names based on their identity and behavior to aid in their monitoring and protection.

Following the elephant’s death, a technical team from Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve conducted a post-mortem investigation at the site.

The carcass was then buried in a pit dug nearby on the same day.