BHUBANESWAR/KEONJHAR: Forest officials on Monday found carcasses of two elephants from Raba village under Kushakala forest beat of Bhuyana-Juanga-Pidha range in Keonjhar district.
The elephants - a 20-year-old female and five-year-old male - are suspected to have been poisoned. After receiving information from locals, a forest team led by RCCF Arun Kumar Mishra and Keonjhar DFO Swayam Mallik reached the spot for inquiry. The veterinary team that accompanied them found blood in the female jumbo’s mouth.
PCCF (Wildlife) Shashi Paul said the exact cause of the deaths can only be ascertained after examining the samples.
DFO Mallik said they tried to find out if the deaths were because of electrocution but no live wire was found at the spot. Besides, there were no injuries on the carcasses which confirmed that it was not a case of electrocution or death due to any external injuries, the DFO said.
Mallik added that to ascertain the exact cause, they have decided to send the samples to the Centre for Wildlife Health at OUAT in Bhubaneswar.
With this, the number of elephant deaths rose to five in the last one and half months. A tusker was electrocuted near Talagada village in Angul on July 8.