Cuttack: In unabated incidents of elephant deaths in Odisha, carcass of a tusker was recovered in Athagarh area of Cuttack district on Monday.
The carcass was found lying inside a cashew forest in Betia range under Athagarh forest division, sources said.
While the tusks of the pachyderm were found intact, injury marks were seen on the trunk of the animal amid suspcion that the elephant might have been killed by poachers.
Forest department officials rushed to the spot and launched an investigation into the matter.
The exact reason of the death will be known after postmortem. Further details are awaited.
It may be noted here that Athagarh forest division has been in news for frequent elephant deaths.
The fresh incident comes around four days after an elephant was found dead with its tusks removed in Similipal wildlife sanctuary in Mayurbhanj district.
According to official data, Odisha recorded 245 elephant deaths in the last three years between 2019 and 22.
The state witnessed highest 86 jumbo deaths in 2021 followed by 82 in 2019-20 and 77 in 2020-21 from 35 forest and wildlife divisions, the sources added.
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