Asia's 'largest' jumbo goes missing in Nepal

KATHMANDU: Rajagaj, an 11-feet-three-inch tall male tusker, believed to be Asia's largest pachyderm has been missing for over a year now from the Bardiya National Park in Nepal's far west, media reports said on Tuesday.

"Rajagaj became famous when a British filmmaker made a documentary a decade ago on the majestic animal. He was the main attraction at the park," Phanindra Kharel, chief conservation officer of the park, was quoted as saying by Kathmandu Post on Tuesday.

Rajagaj, which means the King Elephant, has been the cynosure of all eyes, the report said.

The long disappearance of the animal from the park has now given rise to fears that poachers might have killed it, the newspaper said.

A decade-long Maoist insurgency that killed over 13,000 people in the country has hampered the conservation efforts of the government.

In the recent past, Nepal's Royal Manas National Park was repeatedly targeted by rhino poachers, which threatened the existence of one-horned rhinoceros in the park.