Killer tusker captured in Odisha

Forest department personnel have captured a killer elephant which had unleashed terror in several areas of Odisha's Jajpur district for the last nine days, officials said on Tuesday.

The wild tusker had trampled four persons to death and injured 10 others, they said, adding the elephant had terrified people of Korei, Rasulpur, Sukinda and Danagadi blocks.

With the help of three drone cameras, the pachyderm was tracked and found in Kantipur forest, the official said.

Forest department officials along with expert teams tranquilised the wild tusker in Kantipur forest on Monday night, a forest official said.

"We tranquilised the wild tusker on Monday night after an 8-hour long operation," the Ranger of Jajpur Road Forest Division, Devendra Patnaik, said.

The elephant, after its health check-up on Tuesday, was taken to Kusunpur forest in Dalijoda Range of Cuttack district, he said.

Irate locals had staged a road blockade at Military Chhak and Mantira over bridge on Monday alleging that forest officials were not taking adequate steps to ward off the tusker.

The road blockade was withdrawn later, police said.