Vets treat elephant injured by snare trap in Assam national park
Wildlife veterinarians successfully treated a 25-year-old wild elephant that suffered a severe trunk injury from a snare trap near Raimona National Park in Assam. Forest officials are now monitoring the elephant's recovery while addressing the threat posed by illegal poaching devices in the region.
Why it matters
The incident underscores the ongoing threat of illegal poaching and human-wildlife conflict in protected forest areas, necessitating urgent conservation interventions.
Wildlife veterinarians have treated a female wild elephant whose trunk was caught in a snare trap on the fringes of western Assam’s Raimona National Park.
Forest guards first spotted the elephant, estimated to be 25 years old and accompanied by her calf, with a life-threatening wound near the park’s Daogen Gonthong anti-poaching camp on September 1. The camp is under the Sanfan Range of the Kachugaon Forest Division along the India-Bhutan border.
The forest guards at the camp began tracking the elephant’s movement over the following days to plan a safe intervention.
A joint veterinary team was deployed after the elephant was sighted near the camp on September 7. The team comprised Forest Veterinary Officer (Manas Tiger Reserve) Prabhat Basumatary, Wildlife Trust of India veterinarian Daoharu Baro, and Gossaigaon-based Veterinary Officer Pankaj Chakraborty.
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