A male elephant carcass was found in Manguli forest of Bardanda Manapur Tarsing forest area of Ganjam distract on Wednesday night.
The death of the pachyderm has posed a question mark on the very safety and conservation measures of the Forest Department in the Ghumusar region.
Convenor of Ghumusar Civil Society and secretary of Ghumusari Cattle Breeders’ Society Prakash Chandra Sahu attributed the declining wildlife population to several reasons in the region.
Poor response of the officials of the Forest Department in case of complaint, assigning matters of serious nature to the lower-level staff and DFO washing his hands off continuous incidents of elephant deaths, apart from not using modern technology for effective control and management of the forest, lack of stringent punishment to poachers and forest and animal mafias, and environment degradation have led to such a situation, Sahu alleged.
He further said that the fodder for wild animals, especially elephants, are getting scarce due to cutting of trees like Sisoo, Neem, mango, bamboo, Amla, Jamu, Bahada, etc. Only 25 water bodies are available in eight forest ranges in Ghumusar south and north division, and that too, they are in poor condition. Similarly, lack of dense forest habitat for wild animals and non-development of elephant corridors made the wild animals unsafe. He charged that 70% of the Forest officials are reportedly living in Bhanjanagar Town to lead a smooth and comfort family life ignoring the interests of forests and wild animals.