Skeletal remains of elephant found in Cuttack
Skeletal remains of elephant found in Cuttack
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Bhubaneswar: On the same day that a tusker died from gunshot wounds, the skeletal remains of another elephant were exhumed from the Chandragiri reserve forest in Odisha's Cuttack district, in the Badamba range of the Athagarh forest division.
"On June 14, forest officials of the Athagarh Division retrieved the body parts of an elephant from Chandragiri reserve forest in the Janipadar beat of the Badamba Range near Kharod village," said Athagarh DFO Sudarshan Gopinath Yadav.
The bones, which appear to be from a male elephant, were discovered as forest officials were looking into two cases of elephant body parts being recovered in the Badamba range, he said.
According to Yadav, no tusks were found at the scene, and an inquiry has been begun to find the perpetrators.
Decomposed carcasses of two jumbos were recently discovered in the Athagarh forest division. After battling for over three weeks, a tusker succumbed to gunshot wounds on Tuesday. It was discovered beside a stream in the Narasinghapur forest range of the Athagarh forest division, with five to six bullet holes in its head, trunk, and leg.
Since April 2010, 133 elephants have been poached or poisoned, 144 electrocuted, 36 mowed down by trains, and 6 murdered by speeding vehicles on the road, according to the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) and Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra, Odisha. They also accused the Forest Department of concealing elephant carcasses or concealing the cause of death in a number of recent incidents.
