Nayagarh: An elephant was found dead with its tusk missing in Gochha reserve forest in Nayagarh district Tuesday.
While forest officials are trying to suppress the incident claiming that the pachyderm died of heatstroke, locals do not buy their claims.
“If the tusker had died of sunstroke, then why are its tusks missing. Where are the tusks? We suspect a racket behind the killing of the elephant and smuggling its tusks,” a local said. Moreover, the people here accused the forest officials of being hand in glove with poachers.
The matter came out after some locals who had ventured into the forest Tuesday morning saw the carcass and alerted forest officials. Forest personnel launched a probe.
According to reports, a herd comprising seven tuskers strayed into the Gochha reserve forest from Daspalla a few days back. The carcass belongs to one of the tuskers, locals said.
Although the pachyderm had died four to five days back as the carcass was completely decayed, forest officials came to know of it only after being informed by the villagers. This clearly shows the negligence of the forest department, locals said.
Forest officials conducted an autopsy of the carcass and buried it in the forest.
A hearth was found near the spot where the carcass was spotted. It is suspected that poachers had cooked their food and feasted while staying in the forest to hunt the tusker.
Khurda DFO and in-charge Nayagarh DFO Sudip Nayak said, “Since it was just five years old, its tusk was not grown. However, looking into the allegations of the public, we are probing the incident. The exact reason will be known after the post-mortem report is available.”
Ranger Dhaneswar Rath said, “The tusker had gone to a canal to drink water. However, the canal had dried up due to heat, and the animal died due to heatstroke.”
The government is pumping in crores to dig pits and store water for wild animals, but the incident is a glaring example of the negligence of the forest department.
People said forest guards are not seen anywhere in the area for months together. The beat house remains locked for months. This gives a chance to poachers to continue killing animals.