Hit by truck, jumbo dies for want of treatment

YAMUNANAGAR: In a district, where an Elephant Rescue Centre is coming up, a pet female jumbo died for the want of treatment after a speeding truck hit it on Sunday. In the accident, two of its caretakers (mahavat) also suffered injures. They were shifted to Yamunanagar Civil Hospital from CHC Radaur due to their critical condition.
A team of five doctors, comprising Dr Kuldeep Singh, Dr Yashpal Singh, Dr Satbir Singh, Dr Prem Nath and Dr Sukhbir Nain, all from animal husbandry department conducted the postmortem on Monday.
The incident took place on Sunday morning near Sangipur village on Yamunanagar-Kurukshetra state highway in Yamunanagar district, when mahavat Kamrudin and his son Khairu of Balia district in UP were on their way to UP with the elephant, Chanchal.
They told the police that a truck, which was going towards Kurukshetra side from Yamunanagar, hit the animal from back side. Following which the animal fell down and its head hit the road. Kamrudin and his son, who were riding the animal, also fell down and got injured.
Although Dr Kuldeep Singh from animal husbandry department went on to accident site and gave the injured elephant first aid, he failed to save her. ‘‘Due excessive bleeding and brain haemorrhage the elephant couldn’t be saved,’’ said Dr VK Gupta, deputy director, animal husbandry department, Yamunanagar.
District forest officer Rajesh Gulia said the owner of the elephant, who belongs to Ludhiana was asked to come here so that the license of the elephant could be checked.
Work on Elephant Rescue Centre was started several years ago here, but it was still hanging in balance. So far, neither doctors were posted there nor adequate sheds for elephants and other necessary infrastructure were made available. Wildlife department, inspector Sukhpal Singh said, ‘‘The work was going on Elephant Rescue Centre here and it was expected to be completed in near future.’’
On the other hand, the Radaur police have registered a case of accident against an unidentified truck driver.