Elephant dies of electrocution in Odisha’s Dhenkanal

Dhenkanal, January 2
A male elephant died of electrocution after coming in contact with a live electric wire near a forest in Dhenkanal district, officials said.

The jumbo, aged around 35, was found dead on Wednesday near Dudurkote forest under the jurisdiction of Hindol forest range in the district, Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Jitendranath Das said.

The carcass was spotted by locals and they informed forest officials, Das said, adding that the elephant came in contact with a live electric wire, suspected to have been laid by some miscreants, to kill wild boars.

An investigation had been initiated and post-mortem examination was being conducted on the carcass, Das said.

Efforts are on to identify the miscreants who had laid the electric wire, police said.

In October 2018, seven wild elephants had died of electrocution after coming in contact with a sagging power line near Kamalanga village in the same district. PTI

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Elephants trample boy in Kokrajhar

Dhubri: A 12-year-old boy was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants near Basbari in Kokrajhar district on Tuesday night.

Bandhu Ram Brahmo, a student of class VII of Basbari High School, came in front of a herd of elephants which had entered Basbari Boraibari village, 25km from Dhubri district headquarters, on Tuesday night.

District forest officer, Parbotjhora forest division, A. Sundar said, "The elephants usually come from Kochugoan forest division of Gossaigoan under Kokrajhar district."

He said after receiving information, a team of forest officials went to the village on Wednesday morning. The post-mortem was conducted at Dhubri civil hospital.

The process for providing compensation will be carried out only after receiving the post-mortem and police report, he said.

The forest department has warned the villagers not to venture into the nearby forest areas.

"We have informed the gaonburah to advise villagers not to approach elephants and to inform the department about any sighting of jumbos. We are now tracking the movement of the elephants," Sundar said.

Villagers said the herd was also causing damage to agricultural fields at Basbari Boraibari and adjoining villages.

An elderly woman was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants at Digboi in Tinsukia on Sunday.

A source said Kumari Rai, 65, had gone for a morning walk around 4.30am when suddenly she came in front of the jumbo herd.


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Bengal: Forest employee fleeing wild elephant falls to colleague’s bullet

A casual employee with the Bengal forest department was accidentally shot dead by a security guard while they were trying to escape a wild elephant at the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district on Friday, officials said.

State forest minister Binoy Krishna Burman has ordered an inquiry into the death of the victim, identified as 24-year-old Marcos Oraon from Balalguri village.

Officials said four employees – two casual workers and two full-time forest guards – were patrolling the Hallapara zone of the national park that day when an elephant suddenly appeared in front of them. One of the forest guards, identified as Kabi Rava, opened fire in panic and fatally injured Oraon.

The victim was rushed to the Madarihat block hospital, and later shifted to the Alipurduar district hospital. He succumbed to his injuries there.

Forest department officials said none of Oraon’s colleagues could give an accurate account of the circumstances leading to the shooting because they were scrambling away in panic. “We will launch an inquiry after the post-mortem examination report comes through,” said Bimal Debnath, assistant wildlife warden of the national park. However, an official said on the condition of anonymity that the forest guard had fired at the elephant to save Oraon but shot him instead.

While the deceased was still pursuing his studies, Rava had been employed in the forest department since 1986.


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Woman trampled in Digboi

Dibrugarh: An elderly woman was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants at Muliabari housing area at Digboi in Tinsukia district on Sunday morning.

A source said Kumari Rana, 65, had gone for a morning walk around 4.30am when suddenly she came in front of the jumbo herd, which had come out of the Upper Dehing reserve forest, and was trampled to death.

Digboi forest ranger Parineeta Singh said locals informed them about the incident. "The elephants frequently roam near the oil field which falls under Upper Dehing reserve forest east block. They come out of the forest in search of food. We have sent the body for post-mortem and given Rs 5,000 to her family members. After verifying the post-mortem report and other documents, another Rs 4 lakh will be handed to her family," she said.

The victim, a resident of Digboi town, had come to her daughter's house a few days ago.

The man-elephant conflict has been increasing in Upper Assam. On May 12, Phulmoti Pegu was trampled to death by a herd of elephants at Demow in Sivasagar district.

Bijay Gogoi, president of Evergreen Foundation, an NGO, said the human-elephant conflict was increasing owing to shrinking forest cover. "Due to rampant deforestation, the elephants come out of the forests in search of food and enter human habitation," he said.


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Post-mortem will confirm which train killed 2 elephant calves: DCF

MANGALURU: The forest department has booked a case against Indian Railways after two elephant calves, one which was eight-months-old and another about 18-months-old, were found dead beside railway tracks deep inside the Shiradi Ghat forest, between Subrahmanya and Yedakumari railway stations, on Monday morning.
Sivaram Babu M, deputy conservator of forests (DCF), confirming this to TOI, said veterinarians conducted the post-mortem at the spot, and the carcasses were later cremated near Yedakumeri on Monday.

He said that under sections of the Karnataka Wildlife Protection Act, an FIR was registered at the jurisdiction police station. “Only after the post-mortem report is released, can we ascertain which train caused the death of the jumbos. The reports will have the time of death, and based on that time-frame, one can find out which train passed that stretch at that time,” he said. This is the first such death of elephants in the recent past, due to trains, on this stretch.

It is suspected that a train carrying goods to Bengaluru from Mangaluru, may have hit the two male calves, while they were crossing the track.

Sivaram said the station master of the Yedakumari Railway Station informed the Forest Department about the incident on Monday morning. The station in-charge was informed about the incident by the loco-pilot of a train passing the stretch.

Quoting veterinarians’ preliminary reports, Sivaram said the death is due to accident, where the train engine must have hit the jumbos in the ghat section. The animals were found dead in the slopes of the Western Ghats, deep inside the forest.


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Elephant tramples man to death

A 48-year-old man was trampled to death by an elephant in the Laldhang forest range of Pauri district, a forest official said on Thursday. Bhopal Singh, a resident of Nathukhal village, had gone for some work to Beat No. 7 of the Laldhang forest range, a reserved area which is also considered an elephant corridor, on Wednesday afternoon, range officer Virendra Pal Singh said. However, when he did not return home in the evening, villagers started searching for him. They informed the forest department after Bhopal’s trampled body was spotted in the reserved forest area late at night, the official said. The body had been sent to Kotdwar for a post-mortem examination, he added. — PTI


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Elephant tramples man to death

A 48-year-old man was trampled to death by an elephant in the Laldhang forest range of Pauri district, a forest official said on Thursday.


Bhopal Singh, a resident of Nathukhal village, had gone for some work to Beat No. 7 of the Laldhang forest range, a reserved area which is also considered an elephant corridor, on Wednesday afternoon, range officer Virendra Pal Singh said. However, when he did not return home in the evening, villagers started searching for him. They informed the forest department after Bhopal’s trampled body was spotted in the reserved forest area late at night, the official said. The body had been sent to Kotdwar for a post-mortem examination, he added. — PTI


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Anthrax fear in elephant death

Keonjhar: The death of an adult female elephant, suspected to be caused by anthrax, at a forest-side village in the district has spread panic among local residents.

The carcass of the 20-year-old elephant was recovered from near Pitaspala village in Hadagada forest range on Thursday. Preliminary diagnosis by veterinary surgeons suggest that it was a case of anthrax.

As a precautionary measure, the forest department has undertaken a sensitisation drive and urged farmers to avoid using the spot from where the elephant's carcass was recovered.

"The villagers have been asked to stop grazing their cattle in the area for at least a week," said Anandpur forest division divisional forest officer Ajit Kumar Satpathy.

The forest department has started an immunisation drive to vaccinate domesticated animals in the village.

The animal was buried after applying chemicals for quick decay of the body.

"Cremation of the infected body was a better option to check the possible spread of the anthrax bacteria. However, going by local tradition, the forest department opted to bury it," Satpathy said.

"Anthrax is an air-borne disease. So, we are sensitising the people to prevent it from spreading," he said.

Howerver, the elephant was buried without a post-mortem examination. According to protocol of the animal resources department, there is no autopsy of animals that die from anthrax to prevent the spread of the bacteria.

Blood samples taken from the carcass's ear-tip were sent to the Animal Husbandry College of the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology for a pathological investigation.

"There were ample physical indications that led us to believe that the animal died of anthrax. There was nasal bleeding, which is indicative of anthrax infection. There were no other external injuries on the animal," the divisional forest officer said.

The village from where the death was reported is close to the elephants' habitation corridor.


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Carcass of elephant found

A decomposed carcass of a 15-year-old male elephant was found in Talavadi forest area in Hassanur Division here on Friday. On Saturday, a post-mortem examination was conducted by K. Ashokan, wild life veterinarian of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), in the presence of C.H. Padma, District Forest Officer, Hassanur Division. It was found that the elephant had severe ulceration in stomach and intestine. Officials said that the elephant could have died a week ago, and the carcass had dried up due to intense heat prevailing in the area.

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Plastic Pollution Kills Elephant In India, Highlighting Extent Of Environmental Crisis

Did you know? Every year, humans throw away enough plastic to circle the globe four times. That’s a lot of waste, right? Unfortunately, much of that plastic makes its way to the oceans. There, it either contaminates waterways or chokes — and sometimes kills — wildlife.

The reality is a sad one. Unfortunately, little is being done to change it. Perhaps if people were informed about a recent development, one involving an elephant in Asia, they would take steps to reduce their use and dependence of the non-biodegradable substance.

In early January, a 20-year-old elephant was found approximately one kilometer away from a sewage treatment plant near Valiyanavattom, in India. The post-mortem examination of the carcass revealed that the pachyderm died after eating plastic. The tough material blocked its alimentary canal, resulting in internal bleeding and failure of the vital organs.



Though this is the first documented case of an elephant dying due to plastic ingestion since a ban of the material was passed in 2016, it is not uncommon for wildlife officials to find plastic in the mammals’ dung. This signifies that the crisis is worse than many imagined.

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Tusker dies of severe heat in MTR

A tusker was found dead at the Kargudi range of forests in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris on Thursday evening.
“The elephant was aged around 15 years and the carcass hadn’t any mark of external injury. We don’t suspect any foul play and it seems to be a case of natural death,” said Rajendran, forest range officer.

On Friday, government veterinarian Dr Prabhu performed the post-mortem on the spot in the presence of senior forest officials and members of NGOs.

According to the preliminary autopsy report, the jumbo died of severe heat prevailing in the forest and lack of fodder. In fact, MTR had been experiencing dry spell for the past two months.

“We have collected samples of vital organs for lab test. We have also removed the tusks, each 82cm long,” Rajendran said.

The carcass was left in the forest to decay naturally.



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Elephant, stuck in pit, dies

An elephant, believed to be less than eight-years-old, died after getting stuck in a sewage pit inside a private resort built along the notified elephant corridor in Bokkapuram on Thursday. Forest officials said that the elephant got stuck in the sewage pit at the 'Wild Inn Resort' in Bokkapuram, in the Singara Forest Range in the Nilgiris North Forest Division on late Wednesday night. Local residents said that they could hear the piercing screams of the young elephant more than 1 km away.

But the resort management failed to inform the forest department of the incident till Thursday morning, by which time the animal died. S.

Kanthan, Singara Forest Range Officer, said that the elephant got stuck into the sewage pit after a cement block used to cover it caved in when the animal stood over it. It managed to climb out but one of its hind legs got stuck inside. The incident has brought to focus the problems created by ‘illegal’ resorts on wildlife in the area. S.

Jayachandran, joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement, said that only two resorts in the area had license to operate, and that the others, including the resort where the elephant died, was functioning without permission. “We expect strong action, including the arrest of the resort owners for their negligence in causing the death of the elephant,” he added. S.

Kalanidhi, District Forest Officer, Nilgiris North Division, said that a case has been registered. “We will act against the concerned persons once we have fixed culpability, and after the completion of a post-mortem examination of the elephant,” he said. Forest department staff spent an entire day trying to figure out how to extricate the carcass of the elephant from the sewage pit, and decided to use an earth mover to pull the carcass out..

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