Sad Elephant News

Joyraj the elephant has died. He was 73. The 3.35 metre tall pachyderm had spent his life in the Kaziranga National Park in the Indian state of Assam. He had spent most of his life as a working elephant, transporting tourists into the park's jungle to see rhinoceroses and other animals that lived there. He also helped break up fights between unruly male elephants.

Joyraj has been in retirement since 2008, but was still a much loved fixture in the park. Mohan Karmakar, his mahout, wept at the animal's death, but it seems that that the other elephants in the park have also been mourning Joyraj's passing, loudly trumpeting and visibly crying at their loss.

The picture shows Joyraj with Elke Riesterer, an animal body therapist who treated the elephant for a number of ailments in 2008.

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