Deogarh: Forest officials Sunday recovered the decomposed carcasses of three elephants, including a calf, from Asurakhol forest under Prabhasuni reserve forest and Tileibani block in this district.
The matter came to fore when some women of Asurakhol village had been to the forest to collect kendu leaves. On being informed, a team of forest officials led by divisional forest officer (DFO) Binay Bhushan Kumar Biswasi rushed to the spot at an altitude of 400-ft and recovered the three carcass including those of two female elephants.
The forest officials found that at that altitude there were no water bodies. This led them to suspect that the pachyderms might have died of acute thirst after failing to get water in the area.
However, efforts have been initiated to ascertain the exact circumstances that led to the death of the animals, the officials said, adding the pachyderms were suspected to have died 8 to 10 days ago.
People residing in nearby villages also rushed to the spot and mourned the elephant deaths. The incident coming within three days of the death of an ailing female elephant in the same forest has shocked the villagers. The ailing elephant had died Thursday despite veterinarians providing it all necessary treatment and making efforts for its recuperation.
The post-mortem of the carcasses will be conducted Monday which could possibly throw light on the cause of their deaths, forest officials said.
Tileibani forester and in-charge of Prabhasuni reserve forest Mahendra Kumar Sahu, however, said the pachyderms might have died of viral infections as the female elephant which died Thursday was suffering from viral and oral infections.
But DFO Biswasi had a different opinion as he suspected the anthrax might be the reason behind the death of the animals. PNN
