Forest Department authorities executed a coordinated joint operation to safely rescue and relocate a 20-year-old wild male elephant, identified as ‘Radio Collar-4,’ to prevent human-wildlife conflict and ensure the animal's safety. The operation mobilised over 100 personnel from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Maihar forest division and Mukundpur Zoo, supported by four departmental elephants, Gautam, Surya, Shyam and Bapu, and wildlife health experts Dr Rajesh Tomar, Dr Nitin Gupta and Dr Abhay Sanger. On the late evening of Wednesday, teams safely immobilised the elephant via darting, removed its radio collar to protect its health and secured it inside a specialised transport vehicle. Following an overnight journey through Maihar, Katni and Umaria, the animal was released into a temporary monitoring zone in Bandhavgarh’s Kallwah range on Thursday afternoon, concluding a 30-hour capture-to-relocation mission.

 

Post-transfer assessments confirm that the elephant remains stable and is under continuous veterinary and field observation. Originally from Chhattisgarh, the elephant was first radio-collared in May 2026 following incidents of human casualties, livestock loss and crop damage in Keshwahi forest range of South Shahdol forest division. Later, it was safely released at Bagdara beat of Khitouli range of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve on May 23, 2026. After its initial release into Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, the animal briefly joined a herd of 12 elephants on June 26, 2026, before displaying extensive migratory movements across multiple forest divisions. Most notably, the elephant repeatedly navigated the waters of Son River at Bansagar Dam.

 

On September 7, 2026, it swam for approximately eight to ten hours from Panpatha buffer zone to reach Amarpatan range of Maihar forest division. After roaming Maihar division for twenty days, it swam roughly nine kilometers back across the reservoir on the night of September 28–29, returning to Bandhavgarh before crossing the dam once more into Amarpatan two weeks ago. Because the elephant was roaming in close proximity to populated villages, agricultural fields and livestock, mitigating the risk of conflict became critical. Conducted under the direction of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Dr Samita Rajora, the initiative was guided by Bandhavgarh Field Director Dr Anupam Sahay, Conservator of Forests, Anurag Kumar and Maihar Divisional Forest Officer, Vidya Bhushan.