Wild elephant goes on rampage in Siliguri city, damages houses , vehicles

According to reports, the elephant entered Siliguri town around 4 am and started destroying buildings and vehicles.

Locals started throwing bricks at the animal.

The adult elephant strayed from its group at Baikunthapur forest range and entered Siliguri city and went on a eight-hour rampage, a forest officer said.

Forest personnel rushed to the spot and fired at least three tranquilizer shots aiming at the elephant. When the jumbo became tranquilized, it was lifted by two cranes and taken to forest by a truck.

One senior official of West Bengal Forest Department (North Bengal range) told IBNS, "The elephant has few external injuries. But it's physically fit. After the completion of the elephant's medical tests at Sukna, it will be released into Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary."

Traffic was badly hit in the city due to the elephant's eight-hour rampage.

Siliguri police commissioner Manoj Verma told IBNS, "When we were informed that a wild elephant entered Sevoke Road in heart of the city, we blocked traffic between Panitanki more and Bhaktinagar checkpost from 10 am. to 12 pm. A huge number of police force were deployed there to avoid any casualty."

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)