NAINITAL: A day after a tigress was found dead in the Ramnagar forest divisionnear Corbett National Park, the carcass of an elephant was found in the Dhalua range of the same division on Saturday. On inspection, the pachyderm’s tusks were found to be intact, ruling out the possibility of poachers being behind the death.
Neha Verma, divisional forest officer, Ramnagar, said, “It is not a poaching incident. The elephant died due to electrocution when it came in contact with an 11KV power line pole. Action has been initiated against employees of the state power corporation under Wildlife Protection Act 1972 because it is a result of their negligence. Also 4.5 hectares of forest has been engulfed in fire caused by the short circuit, for which also we are planning action.”
The carcass of the 10-year-old male elephant was found by a patrol in Daula range of the forest division. The patrol immediately informed senior officials who rushed to the spot. The decomposed carcass was sent for post-mortem which was conducted on Sunday. Forest department officials told TOI that the final report is yet to come but findings indicate signs of electrocution.
Uttarakhand has recorded a 15% increase in the population of elephants. The 2015 census has put the population at 1,797 while according to the 2012 census the count was 1,559. The census of elephants is due in the hill state late this year.
Corbett Tiger Reserve got nine elephants from Karnataka government for patrolling and other activities within the park. Earlier, the national park had 13 elephants for patrolling inaccessible areas but seven of them died, following which it was decided to bring new pachyderms.
A half-decomposed body of an adult tigress was found in the Dachauri range of Ramnagar forest division on Friday .The body was spotted by a patrolling team of the forest department. This is the seventh death of a tiger in the hill state this year.