BERHAMPUR: Separate carcasses of an elephant and a crocodile were found in Boudh forest division and Kendrapara’s Bhitarkanika National Park in the last 24 hours.
Boudh forest officials said the decomposed elephant carcass was discovered in Meniapaju forest under Jamukhol beat of Baghia Pada section on Monday.
Locals first spotted the carcass and alerted the forest officials. Boudh DFO Rajendra Gochhayat along with a team reached the spot and launched an investigation.
Forest officials suspect that the elephant may have died around 10 days ago. A postmortem was conducted on Tuesday, after which the carcass was buried. Samples have been collected and sent for examination to ascertain the exact cause of death.
The DFO said preliminary investigation suggests that the elephant may have suffered from severe diarrhoea, leading to dehydration and death. However, the exact cause will be known after the postmortem report is released.
The incident has raised questions over the effectiveness of the elephant-tracking mechanism in Boudh forest division. A special squad deployed to track and monitor elephants apparently failed to detect the animal’s condition or death until villagers discovered the carcass.
Similarly, the carcass of a 14-feet-long crocodile was recovered from Brahmani river near Nagada village within Bhitarkanika National Park on Tuesday.
Bhitarkanika forest range officer Santanu Dalai said after receiving information from local villagers, a team rushed to Nagada and retrieved the carcass of the 20-year-old male crocodile. It was sent to the veterinary office in Rajnagar for postmortem.
“The exact cause of death will be ascertained after we receive the postmortem report,” he added.
