Violent elephant Dhurbe claims lives of a mother and son after 9 years; toll from Dhurbe’s attacks now reaches 25

Few in Chitwan National Park might not have heard of the aggressive male wild elephant Dhurbe. That same violent elephant has now been confirmed to have killed a mother and son in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-23 in Chitwan.

After attacking the mother and son, Dhurbe fled toward the park’s Sukhibhar area. On Saturday night, while the family was at home, the elephant suddenly emerged from the jungle and killed 21-year-old Ashika Bote and her 4-year-old son Bharat Bote.

While the husband tried to light a fire to drive the elephant away, the house itself caught fire and was destroyed. According to Ward Chairperson Dipak Dawadi of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-23, the wild elephant attacked them inside their home, killing the mother and son on the spot.

With this incident, the death toll fromDhurbe’s attacks has reached 25. After killing a Nepal Army major in an attack in 2017, Dhurbe has now taken these two lives nearly nine years later. The elephant, which mostly stays in the park’s Sukhibhar area, had suddenly ventured into a settlement. Locals say it occasionally strays toward Meghauli as well.

Known as the deadliest elephant in Chitwan National Park, Dhurbe began killing people almost daily around 2011/2012, prompting a meeting led by Chitwan’s Chief District Officer on December 16, 2012, to order the elephant’s killing. However, it survived the army’s bullets. The decision to kill it was made after Dhurbe took four lives in quick succession within a month in Madi starting from October 2012.

Since it began attacking and killing people in February 2010, Dhurbe had killed 15 people by 2012. Its terror in Chitwan’s Madi area was extreme, and 1.6 million rupees were spent trying to kill it. After escaping the army’s bullets, Dhurbe disappeared entirely for five years before reappearing in the park’s Sukhibhar area.

Over time, radio collars have been fitted on Dhurbe’s neck repeatedly, and its tusks have been cut. It has been darted (tranquillised) to fit the radio collar, and given musth-suppressing medication to reduce its aggression.

Having appeared calmer in recent times, Dhurbe reportedly clashed with another elephant named Ronaldo in Sauraha a few months ago. After losing that confrontation, it has been keeping company with other female elephants in the park’s Sukhibhar area. The park is home to wild male elephants, including Ronaldo, Govinde, and Dhurbe, who breed with the park’s female elephants.