The wild elephant, which got separated from its herd in India and flowed into Sarishabari upazila with floodwaters, will find a new home at the Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur. A 17-member Bangladeshi team rescued the elephant at Koyra village in Sarishabari’s Kamrabad union of Jamalpur district on Thursday. The elephant remained in close supervision of the forest department in Sarishabari yesterday. Former deputy chief conservator of forest, Dr Tapon Kumar Roy, who led the team, said the tranquillised elephant woke up around 5pm. “It was still very weak. We helped it stand up at 11.20 pm with the help of labourers. We gave it saline and medicines. We had to chain one of its hind legs on security grounds,” he added.
The forest department gave the elephant sugarcane, bananas, banana leaves, and molasses to eat. Sources said the elephant ate everything except the molasses. Roy said since the elephant had got separated from its herd, it would not be wise to send it back to the forest. Its security could be jeopardised, he noted.
He said taking the elephant to Bangabandhu Safari Park would not be easy.
Two trained elephants would be needed to take it to the main road from where it would board a truck.  “We may need to tranquilize it again,” he added.
One of the trained elephants could be brought from Sarishabari and the other from the safari park.  
Koyra village was crowded with spectators who wanted to catch a glimpse of the tranquillised elephant. Police and RAB personnel had to be posted to thwart the crowds.
Jute mill worker Shah Alam, who was spending sleepless nights as the elephant was camping only a few yards from his house, said thousands of people visited the village. Villagers Abdul Barek and Suruzzaman said their relatives were coming from miles away only to set their eyes on the elephant.
According to sources, the male elephant got separated from his herd in the Indian state of Assam and floated into Bangladesh with floodwaters through Roumari border in Kurigram district on June 27.