CUTTACK: A highly decomposed carcass of a female elephant calf was retrieved from an unfenced open well at Kendutokoli village near Kandarpur beat in Athagarh forest division on Sunday.
The calf, believed to be around 4-5 years old, is suspected to have fallen into the open well and drowned about three months back when it was full of water. The well is located on a farmland about 50 metre away from the main road passing through Kendutokoli village.
“Now that the water in the well has dried up, we sensed a foul smell emanating from the area. When we went near the well to check where the smell was coming from, we found the decomposed carcass of the elephant inside it,” locals said.
On being informed, forest officials reached the spot and began investigation. Athagarh DFO JD Pati said the carcass was stuck in mud 30-feet-deep inside the drying well. “We retrieved it will the help of JCB machine. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time during which the calf died as the carcass was stuck in the mud,” he said adding, postmortem was conducted by Athagarh block veterinary officer Dr Antaryami Barik and samples have been sent to the Centre for Wildlife Health, OUAT in Bhubaneswar for examination.
“When and under what circumstances the elephant calf fell into the well and how it went unnoticed by the forest staff and guards for so long is under investigation,” the DFO said adding, disciplinary action would be taken against the forest staff if lapses on their part are found.
He said the Forest department has so far barricaded 533 open wells on village farmlands during the last three years and efforts are underway to cover 200 more such open wells which have been posing threat to wild animals in the adjacent habitations of Athagarh forest division.