Bhubaneswar: Forest department spotted the carcass of a tusker in Kutimaska forest under Narla Range at Semelpadar village in Kalahandi district, on Friday. The elephant is estimated to be 10 years old.
The cause of death of the jumbo is yet to be ascertained, but it is suspected that the elephant might have died a week ago. It might have died either due to electrocution or after being shot by poachers. The exact reason can be established only after proper investigation, sources said.
Upon being informed, the Assistant Conservator of Forests, Biswanathpur Ranger and Narla Ranger rushed to the spot and seized the carcass of the elephant. The Forest department has launched an investigation to find the reasons which led to the death of the animal.
It is learnt that the animal was buried following the post-mortem conducted by a veterinary doctor.
It is pertinent to mention that after recording a staggering 92 jumbo deaths in 2022-23, the state has finally managed to contain the elephant deaths to 65 in 2023-24.
This, infact, is the lowest annual mortality figure for the pachyderms in the state in the last five years as the number of elephant deaths in Odisha was 82 in 2019-20, 77 in 2020-21 and 86 in 2021-22.
On the other hand, the number of human deaths in encounters with wild elephants in Odisha has increased to 149 during the year 2023-24, recording an all-time high of human casualties in the current fiscal.
