Bantala/Kapitpada: Two elephants were found dead in Angul and Mayurbhanj districts in the last 24 hours.
A female elephant reportedly died of old-age ailments near Hinsaloi village under Angul forest division late Wednesday night.
The matter came to the fore when forest officials led by forester Japendra Biswal were carrying out night patrolling and driving away the pachyderms that had strayed into the area. They noticed the elephant writhing in pain and before they could do anything it died.
Later, another team of forest officials and veterinarians led by ranger Satyabrata Pradhan rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. Veterinarians conducted a post-mortem before the carcass was buried on the spot.
When contacted, the ranger said the elephant aged about 40 years might have died due to old-age related problems.
In another incident, an elephant was found dead at Matiachua under Kaptipda range in Similipal Sanctuary Thursday. Forest officials were patrolling in the forest when they came across the carcass.
A team of forest officials including divisional forest officer Sayam Mallik, assistant conservator of forest Binod Bihari Swain, Bhanumitra Acharya, Kaptipada ranger Maheswar Singh, forester Subhankar Singh, guards Jayanti Patra and ADVO Judhistira Behera visited the spot for an investigation.
No injury marks were found on the carcass. The officials failed to ascertain the cause of its death. The forest department has apprised officials of OUAT, Bhubaneswar, of the death of the animal.
Ranger Singh said the elephant was aged five to six years and its carcass was cremated after post-mortem by the ADVO.
Another elephant was found dead in Podadiha section of the sanctuary November 16, 2017.
PNN