Baripada: Similipal National Park in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district lost Sova, a female elephant, as it died of old-age complications on Saturday.
The 56-year-old elephant had been ailing in Jenabil range of the park for the last one week and allegedly not looked after well by the authorities concerned, a TNIE report said.
Sova was brought to the park along with Mahendra, a male, and Bhavani, a female, from Hamsur wildlife division of Rajiv Gandhi National Park in December 2001 to keep a watch on poachers, timber smugglers and development of eco-tourism. Sova was an attraction in the park as tourists rode the elephant.
During her stay in the park, Sova gave birth to Laxmi. Laxmi, however, died after being bitten by a poisonous snake in September 2006, when she was four years old.
The death of Sova has come amid the infamous burning of a sub-adult tusker, which was killed by poachers near Bakua village in Jenabil range of Similipal tiger reserve and its tusk sawn off, by three forest personnel, including a ranger of Jenabil forest range.
