Another male elephant was found dead in a paddy field near Santharabandha village under the Chhendipada Forest Range in Angul on Thursday. Chhendipada Forest Range Officer SS Panda and staff rushed to the spot and recovered the carcass.
The postmortem was done by a local veterinary doctor. Although the viscera report was awaited, but a preliminary investigation revealed that the pachyderm was killed due to rampant poaching in the vicinity, what the Forest department has not been able to control over the last few years. The failure of the Forest department is confirmed by the fact that about three elephant deaths have occurred in the same locality since 2010. Some local youths said the tusker might have been killed due to electrocution. They also demanded a proper investigation into the incident and action against the culprits.