Bhubaneswar: Ramu, a tusker, was found dead inside Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, on Monday.
Sources said that electrocution is suspected to have led to the death of the 40-year-old tusker. Forest department officials have reached the spot after being informed by the electricity department.
The DFO informed that reason can be ascertained after an autopsy.
This came a day after a female elephant aged around 15 years was electrocuted to death in a forest under Naktideul range of Sambalpur’s Rairakhol division and a five-year-old male calf was mowed down by a goods train on the Rourkela-Bimlagarh line near Roxy of Barsuan range under Bonai Forest Division (BFD) in Sundargarh district.
The goods train moving towards Karampada hit the calf around 3.30 am leading to its death on the tracks. Following which the other elephants in the herd waited near the body for over five hours and left the spot around 9 am, only after forest authorities made loud noises. The adult female elephant, on the other hand, died after coming in contact with an 11 KV wire hanging low in the forest.
In February, a 15-year-old elephant of Chandaka sanctuary had died of injuries suffered after a crude bomb it had swallowed exploded in its mouth. The bomb, planted to hunt wild boars, was hidden in a pumpkin on the outskirts of the city.
