Carcass of the tusker electrocuted
ANGUL: A 30-year-old tusker died after coming in contact with an 11 KV wire in a forest near Jagannathpur village under the Pampsar range of Satokosia wildlife division.While forest officials claimed the tusker died on Friday, as per unofficial reports, the death could have occurred three-four days back. The post-mortem of the carcass was conducted on Saturday.
Sources said a herd of four elephants including two tuskers and as many females has been roaming in the forest near Jagannathpur village for the last two-three days. Forest officials said the tusker, a part of the herd, came into contact with the live wire laid by poachers at a mango orchard near the village. Forest guards patrolling the area came across the tusker’s carcass on Friday night and informed officials including DFO Saroj Panda who rushed to the spot to ascertain the cause of death. They also questioned some villagers about the incident.
“As soon as we received information, we rushed to the spot. The elephant had died around six hours back. There were four elephants in the area and the tusker was one of them,” said Panda. He denied allegations that the Standard Operating Procedure was not followed during conduct of the post-mortem of the carcass on the day.As many as five elephants have died in the last four months in Satkosia wildlife division.
