ATHAGARH: A female elephant, aged about eight years old, was found dead at Rajanagar under Athagarh forest range here on Wednesday morning.
Locals first spotted the pachyderm lying in a pool of blood in a brinjal field near their village. On being informed, forest officials led by Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Rajendra Kumar Das and Range Officer Rabindra Nayak rushed to the spot. A team of veterinary surgeons from OUAT led by Prof Dr Niranjan Sahoo also reached the spot and conducted postmortem on the dead jumbo. Block Veterinary Officer Susant Kumar Behera also assisted the team.
During autopsy, the doctors found that the elephant’s tongue was chafed and lower jaws broken. It is suspected that something exploded in the mouth of the jumbo, leading to severe bleeding and subsequently, its death. Since fresh blood was oozing out of its mouth, it is believed that the elephant died early in the morning.
Sources said due to lack of proper patrolling, poachers have become active in the forest. Since Sukasan reserve forest has a huge population of wild boars, poachers use bombs to hunt the animals. As per reports, five elephants have died in the forest in as many months.
It is alleged that some forest officials are hand in glove with the poachers and have turned a blind eye to the menace.Expressing concern over the rising deaths of elephants, environmentalists and wildlife lovers demanded strict action against poachers and the unscrupulous forest officials involved in the illegal practice.