Satamail: The Forest department Thursday recovered the carcass of an elephant calf from a small hill near Balisahi that comes under Rasol section of Hindol forest range in Dhenkanal district.
The reason of death of the two-month-old calf is yet to be ascertained, the department said.
According to local residents, a herd of 15 elephants had been unleashing terror in several villages of Jarada panchayat since last one month. The same herd had been in Balikiari area for a week now, destroying crops and eating away stored paddy and rice.
Locals had spotted three calves in the herd, one of which was seen living on mother’s milk. That said, the villagers appeared clueless as to how the calf died.
The villagers informed the Forest department after hearing the elephants trumpeting. Ranger Madhusudan Patra, forester Sudarshan Dehury and forest guard Mukti Prasad Behera reached the spot only to see the carcass of the calf with the mother elephant guarding it.
After waiting for a while, the elephant went into the jungle and the carcass was recovered and brought to the foot of the hill. The carcass was later buried following a postmortem by Rasol veterinary doctor Abhisekh Sahu.
Ranger Patra said that the exact cause of death would be known only after receiving the postmortem report.
PNN
