Tusker In Sambalpur Might Have Died Due To Bullet Injury; DFO reveals startling info
Tusker In Sambalpur Might Have Died Due To Bullet Injury; DFO reveals startling info
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Sambalpur: The 12-year-old tusker was reportedly shot at by poachers before it passed away on Tuesday, hours after being rescued from the water body in Odisha's Sambalpur district where it had been stuck for five days.
A bullet was found in the tusker's body during the postmortem, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vishwanath Neelannavar announced to the media on Thursday. "From the tusker's leg bone, a bullet measuring 4 cm long and 2.5 cm in diameter was found. The front leg bone has been struck 40 cm deep by the bullet. The tusker developed septicemia as a result, and subsequent multi-organ failure caused it to pass away," he said.
He added that the postmortem report will reveal the precise cause of the male elephant's demise.
The DFO added that an axe and a gun made in the country had been taken from three people who had been detained in connection with this case. He stated, "From atop a tree close to the pond, the poachers fired on the elephant.
At first, it was believed that the tusker's wound came from a collision with another elephant.
On May 29, the elephant's injured forelimb was discovered. On June 2, medical professionals from the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar, tranquillized and treated it. The elephant sought refuge in a pond at Samplahara in the Badasahi range under Sambalpur Forest Division on June 16 to lower its body temperature because the wound did not heal and it developed septicemia and a high fever. After being led to the water body's embankment with the aid of ropes two days later, it was treated once more. Using a hydra crane, forest and fire service personnel extricated the pachyderm from the pond on Tuesday. But hours after being removed from the body of water, it passed away.
Notably, on June 14, a second tusker that had been shot was discovered dead from its wounds near a rivulet in the Narasinghapur forest range of the Athagarh forest division in the Cuttack district. From the Athagarh forest division, two decomposing jumbo carcasses were found.
