A marauding wild elephant that wreaked havoc in human settlements near the Chitwan and Parsa national parks for the past year has been taken under control by the parks’ officials.

After seeking permission from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, a joint team of the Chitwan and Parsa national parks darted Ganesh, the wild elephant, and installed a radio collar on him for monitoring purpose on December 25, 2018. The technicians also severed its tusk.

“It took a lot of time and effort to dart Ganesh, but he has been less aggressive ever since we cut off his tusk,” said Ashok Ram, assistant conservation officer at the Parsa National Park. He said possible destruction by the elephant would be minimised now that the conservationists can track its movement through the radio collar.

According to conservationists, Ganesh would remain physically inactive for a few days because of the drug that was used in darting.

“Ganesh is calm for the time being. We are regularly monitoring his movement. This way, we can alert the locals on time and chase him away if he tries to enter the human settlements,” said Ram.

Ganesh killed three persons in Rambhauribhata of Parsa in April, 2018, and destroyed houses and crops in various settlements of Parsa, Chitwan and Rautahat districts.