Mahendra, tusker that protected tigers and survived a Maoist attack, dies at 66

In an official note the STR issued Monday, authorities said Mahendra had “age-related weakness and stopped taking foods since Sunday morning”.

“He was under treatment by a veterinary doctor but died Sunday at about 10.30 pm. Post-mortem will be conducted to know the reasons,” the note said.

According Susanta Nanda, Odisha’s former principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), Mahendra and two female elephants were brought to STR from Karnataka’s Rajiv Gandhi National Park in 2001 to engage him in patrolling and protecting STR’s green cover amid reports of poaching and timber smuggling.

Soon, Mahendra, then 42 and eight feet in height, was deployed in vulnerable areas of the 2,750 sq. km tiger reserve, including its core area of 1,100 sq. km, eventually becoming the STR’s “brand ambassador”, officials said.

Since most elephants can trek 10 km at a stretch, Mahendra also proved effective in monitoring the movement of the reserve’s big cat population. But there was more to Mahendra’s duties than just guarding the timber and tigers – he also helped forest officials drive away wild elephants causing crop devastation, and was sent to Berhampur Division to serve as kumki — or a trained elephant.

In 2012, several forest camps in Similipal’s core tiger area came under Maoist attack, with the insurgents breaking into and ransacking forest beat offices to disrupt communication. Although the intention was to loot the arms, ammunition and cash, officials claim the plan wasn’t successful.

Among these camps was Similipal’s Gudugudia camp, where Mahendra was kept. He sustained several bullet and arrow injuries in the attack, and, after his recovery, was briefly moved to Jashipur camp.

In January 2019, the Odisha government decided to move Mahendra and another young elephant named Rajkumar to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in state’s Angul district. The aim, according to officials, was to guard a young tigress, Sundari, translocated there from Bandhavgarh in the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh to revive the reserve’s big cat population.

The project, however, failed – not only was it met with protests from local population who feared man-animal encounters, but within months of the relocation, a young tiger, Mahavir, was found dead, suspected to have been killed by poachers. Meanwhile, Sundari mauled two people to death, leading to more local protests.

In 2021, Sundari relocated to a seven-hectare enclosure in Kanha Tiger Reserve, and eventually to a rescue centre in Bhopal. In June 2024, Mahendra was brought back to Simlipal, and stayed there since. He was recently moved to Chahala range in Similipal’s North Wildlife Division to assist forest officials after the state government translocated two tigers from Maharashtra to improve STR’s tiger gene pool.

“Mahendra served the Odisha Forest Department very sincerely. He was courageous and successful in driving away wild elephants,” Odisha PCCF (Wildlife) PK Jha said.

He lived a full life, the forest official quoted earlier told The Indian Express. “Even though he died due to old age, it’s a sad day for Similipal,” he said.ind