Raipur: Another wild elephant was found dead on Thursday in the Surguja area of Chhattisgarh. Three elephants have died in this area in the last three days. Officials of the state forest department said that the body of a wild elephant has been found in the Rajpur forest area of Balrampur district.
On Tuesday and Wednesday also, the forest department had recovered the bodies of two wild elephants from a Pratappur forest area in Surajpur district. One of these elephants was pregnant. Authorities had feared the death of this elephant due to liver and spleen problems.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Arun Kumar Pandey told that in three days all the dead elephants are female and it seems that all have died due to the same reason. Pandey told that the post mortem of the elephant whose body has been recovered today is being done.
There have been reports of post mortem of two dead elephants and their death is not natural. The report is expected to die from his poison. The official said that according to the information received so far, a team of elephants had gone from Rajpur to Pratappur.
During this time elephants had damaged houses in the village. It is feared that elephants ate mahua flowers or urea kept in houses during this time. Balrampur division forest division officer Pranab Mishra said that after receiving information about the death of the elephants, a team of forest department had reached the spot.
Mishra told that no injury marks have been found on the dead body. The elephants died two or three days ago. Correct information about the causes of death will be available only after getting the post mortem report. At the same time, the forest department has collected samples from ponds and other places with water in the area and the poison is being investigated in them. Bilaspur social worker Mansoor Khan said that in November last year, the forest department arrested eight people in Balrampur district for killing elephants for ivory.
In the death of three elephants, no such conspiracy can be ruled out. Khan said that a high-level inquiry should be done into the matter. Only after this, correct information will be found in this regard. Reports of conflict between elephants and humans are frequently reported in Sarguja, Korba, Raigad, Jashpur and Koriya districts of North region of Chhattisgarh. In the last few years, many people have died in elephant attacks in this area and many houses have been damaged.
The Union Environment Ministry directed the Forest Department of Chhattisgarh to take appropriate action in the case of the death of two wild elephants in the state. The Ministry also asked the Forest Department to make him aware of the facts in this case. A forest official said that in the Surajpur district of Chhattisgarh, two elephants were found dead in the last two days, one of which was pregnant.
