Notorious Dhrube elephant fitted with radio collar, released in Chitwan National Park

Chitwan: Chitwan National Park has fitted a GPS-enabled radio collar on the notorious wild elephant Dhrube and released it back into the park to closely monitor its movements.

According to the park’s Information Officer, Abinash Thapa Magar, the elephant was tranquilized using a dart gun on Wednesday night before the radio collar was installed. Its tusks were also trimmed before it was released.

The GPS-enabled collar will allow park authorities to track Dhrube’s location and monitor its activities in real time, helping reduce the risk of human-elephant conflict.

The operation was carried out jointly by a team from the Nepali Army, Chitwan National Park, and the National Trust for Nature Conservation.

Park authorities had been searching for Dhrube for the past 10 days after the elephant reportedly killed 25-year-old Ashika Bote and her four-year-old son, Bharat Bote, in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-23. The search was delayed due to dense vegetation and unfavorable weather conditions.

Dhrube is believed to have killed around 25 people in and around Chitwan National Park over the years, making it one of Nepal’s most notorious wild elephants.