Patna, Dec. 25: Having failed to capture the strayed tiger of Valmiki Tiger Reserve even more than a week after placing traps, the state environment and forests department has decided to rope in services of trained elephants from Assam to trace the feline.

The department has sent a letter to the Assam chief wildlife warden to issue permits for transportation of three trained elephants to Bihar.

“We hope the Assam officials would issue the permit at the earliest so that we could get the elephants from private owners and use them to capture the tiger,” Bihar chief wildlife warden D.K. Shukla told The Telegraph today.

The big cat, at present, is moving in Jalalpur area of Vaishali district, which is about 40km north of Patna and about 260km south of the reserve.

Elephant owners from Assam have already visited the area where the strayed tiger is moving.

“We were in talks with owners of trained elephants from Assam. We took them to the area where the tiger is moving so that they could judge whether their elephants can be used for the operation or not,” Shukla said.

The department has ensured that only those elephants are brought to Bihar which have been used in similar kind of operations. “We have got things verified by the Assam chief wildlife warden,” Shukla said.

Shukla said this precaution was a must as any mistake on this front could become a threat for the lives of people who would be engaged in the operation to capture the tiger by tranquilising it. “An elephant, which has not been used in such operation, may go berserk after watching a tiger and such a situation would be very tough for those riding on its back as the chances of their falling on the ground would be very high and their lives would be under threat in such a situation,” added the Bihar chief wildlife warden.

The department got in touch with elephant owners in Assam after Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh, which has at its disposal trained elephants for such operations, turned down Bihar’s request of sending the pachyderms to capture the strayed tiger.

The Vaishali police, meanwhile, have constituted a ten-member team to help the forests department team in case of emergency.

Missing feline

Problem: Tiger strayed into inhabited area on XXXX

Present location:Jalalpur area of Vaishali district

Capture measures:Forests department wants trained jumbos

Hiccups:Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh turns down Bihar’s request to send pachyderms

Plan B:Letter sent to Assam chief wildlife warden

Initial success:Elephant owners from Assam visit state