By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Kaziranga (Assam) : A 60-year-old tamed Asiatic tusker which killed an American tourist as well as the elephant she was riding in 1999 at the Kaziranga National Park has died of old age, but not without leaving behind some fond memories for park rangers.
The nearly 10-foot elephant, named Godapani, died Sunday at the park, 220 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati, bringing tears to the eyes of many officials and forest guards at Kaziranga.
“It was really sad to bid farewell to such a majestic animal. We all offered prayers and lit incense sticks while performing a small ritual for Godapani,” Dharanidhar Boro, a senior park ranger, told IANS.
A fit of anger on Nov 17, 1999, cost Godapani his cosy former job: carrying visitors four times a day around the Kaziranga. Early in the morning, he and six other tame elephants were in the middle of the park where visitors had ridden on their backs to see wildlife at close quarters.
Suddenly, Godapani went berserk and killed Mary Mead Bumder, an 80-year-old tourist from Boston who was riding another elephant about a metre away. The enraged tusker then gored the tuskless male elephant hired by Bumder, tearing apart his stomach.
Godapani had been carrying tourists around the park since 1972 and was considered the most gentle of the 45 elephants the park had employed for wildlife safaris and patrolling duties.
Boro said: “After that incident we isolated him for some time and he was not allowed to carry visitors on his back. Instead, the giant beast was used for carrying out security patrol inside the park, to drive away wild elephant herds and also for carrying rations to forest guards in camps located deep inside the sanctuary.”
Godapani, the oldest of the tamed elephants in the park, was known for unmatched courage.
“I was once riding Godapani during the high floods in 1998 inside the park when a rhino charged at him and attacked. Godapani charged back, almost lifted the rhino…his trunk was injured in the process, but one must admire his courage,” Boro said.
An elephant keeper said: “Despite the tragic 1999 incident, Godapani was still the best tamed elephant in the park with his tall stature and majestic look…scaring even wild herds. He was a very gentle but no-nonsense elephant.”