Elephant 'Nanda' dies at Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary

Bhubaneswar: A male elephant, 'Nanda' of Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP), died in Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Sources said, Nanda was given a tranquiliser by the forest officials in order to shift it to the newly constructed elephant rescue centre in the sanctuary.

Nanda, who had been ill for the past couple of days, dies at around 3 am. The cause of death will be ascertained after the post-mortem, said forest officials.

Nanda was born to elephant 'Basanti' at Nandankanan zoo. On November 28, 1997, it had killed a mahout Radha Raman Singh.

In 2010, Nanda was shifted to Godibadi of Chandaka from Nandankanan to control the menace of stray elephants.