Dhenkanal: A day after a tusker was found electrocuted in a trap set up by poachers inside Satkosia wildlife sanctuary in Odisha’s Angul district, the carcass of a female elephant was found in Khesra forest near Ghagaramunda village in Dhenkanal district on Sunday.
It is suspected that the 25-year-old elephant too died of electrocution.
After being informed by locals, who spotted the carcass, forest officials arrived at the spot and sent the carcass for postmortem to ascertain the exact cause of death.
Four elephants have died of electrocution in less than a week in Odisha. Two female elephants were electrocuted after coming in contact with a live wire inside Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Judia under Keonjhar Sadar range on Thursday.
Odisha reports one of the highest number of deaths of elephants by electrocution in India. Around 741 such deaths were reported in the country in 10 years till December 2020, of which Odisha recorded the maximum of 133 deaths.
According to a report by Down to Earth, 82 elephants died in Odisha in 2019-20, 77 in 2020-21 and 86 in 2021-22. Among them, 34 elephants were killed by poachers, 30 died after being hit by trains and six died in road accidents. Nearly 20 per cent deaths were caused due to electrocution.
There were 1,827 elephants in Odisha, according to the 1999 census. This number rose to 1,930 in 2012 and 1,954 in 2015. The last elephant census in 2017 put the figure at 1,976.
