A carcass of a male elephant calf was found in the teak forest near Malda village under the Koida range of Sundargarh district on Tuesday.
The Forest Department suspects it to be a two to three-day-old calf.
On being informed, a Forest Department team reached the spot in the teak forest and spotted the carcass of an elephant calf. For further investigation to ascertain the cause of the animal’s death, the assistant chief conservator of forests (ACCF), Rourkela, Bonai DFO and Koida ranger also reached the spot.
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“The male calf was two to three days old. Preliminary investigation suggests that the calf might have some infections or diseases at the time of birth which led to its death,” said DFO, Bonai, Lalit Kumar Patra.
In another incident, a tusker died a tragic death in the Bharatpur jungle on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on Monday night. The elephant had reportedly swallowed a crude bomb suspected to be planted by poachers to hunt wild boars. It was seriously injured after the bomb exploded. The injured elephant was spotted by Forest Department officials on Monday. Its treatment was immediately started but it couldn’t be saved.