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The carcass of a sub-adult female elephant was found in an agriculture field near Garda village under Bisra range of Rourkela Forest Division on Wednesday. The elephant is suspected to have been electrocuted.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjeet Kumar said, the female elephant may have come into contact with the 44 KV overhead line and died. It appears that the overhead wires were sagging and the elephant’s trunk got entangled, he said adding autopsy of the carcass would be conducted on Thursday.
The villagers of Garda, part of Nuagaon block, prevented the forest officials from shifting the carcass demanding safety measures in place from a herd of eight elephants which has holed up at adjacent Bandega Reserve Forest (RF). They also demanded immediate payment of all outstanding compensation claims of elephant depredations.
Assistant Conservator of Forest JK Mohanty said, efforts were underway to convince the villagers to relent. A squad would guard the carcass during night while another would chase away the herd. With this, the number of elephant casualties in Rourkela division has reached four in six months. An elephant calf died on October 6, 2016 after it got stuck in a puddle near Sonaparvat under Panposh range. The same day, another newborn died after drowning in an open well at Riu of Kuarnmunda range.