Tusker elopes with 6 female elephants in Dudhwa

In a heart-warming yet unusual tale of love, a trained kumki elephant named Gajraj from the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve broke free from its iron shackles and disappeared into the forests accompanied by six female elephants.

- Biswajeet Banerjee

The elephantine elopement sparked a massive 15-day search operation involving drones and forest teams.

It all began on August 14, when the elephants were released near the Rhino Rehabilitation Area in the South Sonaripur Range, a lush 27 sq km area with tall Sal and Damar trees, as many as nine permanent lakes and vast grasslands that stretch for miles on all sides, mimicking the Kaziranga national park in Assam. It is in this area that it is possible to spot the one-horned rhino and according to the last census there are about 46 rhinos in Dudhwa.