Kolkata: Ramlaal, a tusker which recently became a hit on the internet after videos emerged of it stopping trucks carrying foodgrain on the highway and letting them pass only after collecting its ‘due' share, has been receiving treatment from forest personnel for a wound on its right leg.
The wound, which appears to be 10-12 days old, may have been sustained while running away from a hula party, said forest officials. Upon receiving information about the injury, Jhargram DFO Umar Imam dispatched the ADFO and a veterinary doctor from the Jhargram Forest Division on Monday to attend to Ramlaal, said a source. Imam said an investigative committee would determine what caused the wound.
From Tuesday, Ramlaal was fed medicines with food and ointments were applied to the wound. The tusker will be under our constant supervision until its recovery, said a forest official.
Local said Ramlaal was in the Lodhasuli and Jhargram range territories for several days. A Shalboni area resident suggested that the injury could have been caused by either a burn from a hula party's fire or contact with a tree branch during the forest department's elephant drive operations.