Bhubaneswar: An elephant was found dead in the Athagarh forest range in Cuttack district, on Thursday morning.
As per reports, the carcass of the pachyderm was recovered near the Kulailo crusher field under the Athagarh range. Preliminary investigations suggest that the elephant might have died due to electrocution. A team from the Athagarh forest division has reached the spot and initiated an investigation into the incident.
It is pertinent to mention that Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia recently stated in the Odisha Assembly that an average of 81 elephants die annually in the state.
Taking the last three years’ data into consideration, the Minister informed that the reasons behind elephant deaths are poaching, electrocution, train accidents, road accidents, various diseases, revenge by locals and other natural causes such as falling from hills, drowning and old-age. Apart, elephants roam from forest to forest in search of food. Sometimes, they enter villages, leading to conflicts between humans and elephants.
