Injured Elephant's Body Found in Forest

Injured Elephant's Body Found in Forest

BALASORE: A tusker from Jharkhand was found dead in Kuldiha sanctuary on Sunday. The injured animal was spreading terror in the area for a long time now.

The body of the 22-year-old tusker was found near a water channel at Purnadiha, about 1.5 km from Kaimahudi forest beat inside the sanctuary. After post-mortem, the forest officials recovered two tusks measuring about 29 inch and 27 inch in length and 11 inch and 10 inch in circumference.

Sources said the tusker, part of a 23-member herd from Jharkhand which had come to Nilagiri in May last year, was missing since long even as other members of the herd had returned. The tusker was found injured about a month back near Rishia dam in the reserve forest.

Though the forest authorities had initiated steps and roped in an expert from Assam to treat the injured elephant, it could not be saved.

Kuldiha ranger Rabindra Mohapatra said the elephant was given required medicines through oral feeding. “The medicines were fed through jackfruit but when it did not respond, we were planning to tranquillise and treat it accordingly. We suspect the elephant died of septicaemia,” Mohapatra said.

Even as the cause of the tusker’s injuries was yet to be ascertained, it is suspected to have been attacked by arrows. Forest officials said the local villagers might have attacked it as it was wreaking havoc.

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