Elephant calf’s bone, hide recovered from Satkosia sanctuary

At a time the unabated death of elephants in Odisha has triggered an outrage among animal lovers, hide and bones of an elephant calf were recovered from Pampas forest range of Satkosia sanctuary in Angul district on Sunday.

According to sources, the elephant calf is believed to be around eight-year-old.

Though the exact cause behind the death of the elephant is unknown, senior forest department officials have reached the spot to ascertain the circumstances leading to the death of the animal.

"The remains of the elephant calf have been sent for autopsy and the cause of the death could be ascertained after the post-mortem," said a forest official.

Recently, Odisha forest and environment minister Pradip Amat informed the State Assembly that 784 elephants have died in the last 10 years.

While 82 jumbos died in 2012-13, the figure was 86 in 2015-16, 93 in 2018-19 and 86 in 2021-22.

Similarly, 11 wild elephants were killed by poachers during 2022-23.

According to the last elephant census conducted in 2017, there are 1,976 elephants in Odisha.

(Reported by Biraja Das, OTV)