Bhubaneswar/Mayurbhanj: Elephant deaths in Odisha continue to worry the Forest department as well as wildlife lovers. Two elephant calves died in the state in separate incidents during the past 24 hours. While an ailing elephant calf died in Chandaka during treatment on Sunday, another calf’s carcass was recovered by Forest department personnel in the Baripada-Similipal sanctuary in Mayurbhanj district.
According to reports, a sick three-year-old elephant calf died in Chandka while undergoing treatment at the Chandka-Dampada Sanctuary’s Elephant Training Centre. The calf reportedly came to Chandaka from Deogaon in Bolangir district and somehow fell ill. For the last few weeks, teams from Nandankanan and the OUAT have been nursing the elephant calf but failed to him back to health.
As the calf was unable to eat or drink, he was being given saline, Chanadka DFO Sarat Chandra Behera said, adding that the post-mortem of the baby elephant will be undertaken on Monday.
In another incident, unidentified miscreants reportedly killed an elephant calf and disposed off its carcass in the Baripada-Similipal sanctuary. Forest department personnel recovered the carcass from the Jenabil range area of the Similipal Tiger Conservation Project. An investigation revealed that the one-year-old baby elephant died of infection. Dr Prakash Chand Gogineni, Area Director and Regional Chief Wildlife Conservator of Similipal Tiger Conservation Project informed.
According to information, the dead body of the baby elephant was found during patrolling on Sunday morning. This was reported to the senior officials of the Forest department who reached the spot with a veterinary team and conducted an investigation.
