ROURKELA: Chilling details of the gruesome killing of an adult tusker have emerged five days after the elephant was found dead near Banki under Rourkela forest division (RFD) in Sundargarh district. Divisional forest officer (DFO) of Rourkela Yeswant Sethi on Thursday said at least six villagers of Banki used specially-designed extra long and sharp spears to kill the jumbo in retaliation for crop damage. Peeved at the tusker for frequently damaging their crops, the accused villagers sought the help of a blacksmith and converted four GI pipes of 12 feet length into long spears with sharp and pointed blades.
Late in the night on September 9, the villagers surrounded the tusker in an agriculture field and tried to stick the spears into the elephant’s sensitive parts. They succeeded in piercing a spear in the upper thigh region of the tusker between its two front legs. Writhing in pain, the elephant tried to escape but the other end of the spear hit a rock and pierced at least 38 cm deep inside its body. The DFO said despite profuse bleeding, the pachyderm managed to drag itself to a distance of at least one km before collapsing near a nullah. Subsequently, the elephant died. The spears have been retrieved from the nullah.
The six accused villagers, Naga Tigga (39), Karma Tigga (58), Birsa Oram (41), Ajay Oram (28), Salan Oram (30) and Bishu Oram (32) of Faudatola hamlet in Banki village within Chandiposh police limits were arrested and produced in jail. This was the third incident of retaliatory killing of elephants in five years within RFD limits over crop damage. In November 2018, an adult female elephant was electrocuted to death near Dubkupada village under Rajangpur range and its carcass chopped into pieces. The perpetrators were caught when they tried to burn the dismembered carcass to erase evidence.
Similarly in 2017, a sub-adult female elephant was electrocuted and shot with multiple arrows near Chhidakudar village of K Balang under Banki Range. In September 2016, a sub-adult tusker was found dead in an agriculture field at Angarpara village of Banki range. The reason cited for its death was accidental poisoning which many found unconvincing.