DHENKANAL/BERHAMPUR: A 65-year-old farmer was crushed to death by an elephant when he had gone to Koi reserve forest under Hindol range to pluck mangoes on Saturday morning.
The deceased has been identified as Kaibalya Sahu of Pada village. Range officer Trilochan Dehury said an elephant herd had been roaming in the reserve forest area for the past few days owing to which villagers had been warned against venturing into the forest.
“However, ignoring the warnings and announcements, Kaibalya went to the forest early in the morning to pluck mangoes. He came face-to-face with a tusker which killed him on the spot,” Dehury said.
Villagers alerted the forest officials and police. The body was subsequently sent for postmortem. “The deceased’s wife has been paid Rs 1 lakh compensation of the total Rs 10 lakh in the first installment and the remaining amount will be paid after formalities,” the range officer said.
Ailing tusker found dead
Meanwhile, an ailing tusker was found dead in Belaghar forest range under Baliguda division of Kandhamal district on Friday. Baliguda divisional forest officer (DFO) Ghanasyam Mahanta said the tusker, aged around nine to 10 years, was suffering from prolonged illness and was undergoing treatment in the North Kalahandi forest division.
Forest officials said the pachyderm had moved into Belaghar forest area around a week back. Though officials concerned were closely monitoring its health condition, the jumbo succumbed. Its carcass was buried on Saturday after a postmortem.
This incident marks the third elephant death in Jhiripani forest zone in the past four months. Wildlife enthusiasts attributed the rising death of elephants in the region to negligence and lapses in monitoring by authorities concerned.
They stressed the need for stronger wildlife protection measures and better disease surveillance.