The Athagarh forest division in Odisha’s Cuttack district has yet again hogged the limelight with a fresh case of elephant poaching coming to light, much to the chagrin of conservationists.
It may be recalled here that a tusker had been found dead on 14 January of the current year in the division.
The mutilated carcass of a tusker was recovered yesterday at Haladiaseni reserve forest in Badamba forest range. Both the tusks of the elephants were extricated apparently by poachers. A manhunt has been launched to nab the wildlife offenders and retrieve the tusks, said a forest official.
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Tusker deaths go on unabated in Athagarh as the forest division, considered a congenial habitat for jumbos. It has reported the seventh tusker death since June last.
In June last year, as many as five elephant deaths were reported from the Athagarh forest division. On June 2 and 3, a crime branch special task force had retrieved the remains of a male and a female elephant respectively from the forests in the division.
On June 14, the carcass of a male tusker, allegedly killed and buried, was exhumed by officials in division. A day later, another tusker, which was found with gunshot wounds near a rivulet in the Narasinghapur forest range a week ago, succumbed to the wounds.
The forest personnel had later arrested three watchers and a forest guard under the Wildlife Protection Act for suppressing the wildlife crimes and colluding with the criminals.
The state government had later constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the series of elephant deaths and recovery of skeletal remains of jumbos.
Meanwhile, the Orissa High Court, expressing deep concern over the poaching cases, has directed the government to ensure safety of these long-ranging animals.
Odisha elephants live a life fraught with dangers all the time due to poaching, poisoning, electrocutions, train kills as the elephants are always chased by forest squads.
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