Chhattisgarh: Most vicious Elephant “Ganesh” found dead, 6th fatality in 10 days; Strict actions to be taken: PCCF Atul Shukla
Raipur: A male wild elephant on Thursday found dead at Dharamjaigarh area in Raigarh district. This is the sixth death of an elephant in the state in the last 10 days.
A male pachyderm, identified as “Ganesh”, who found dead today, was said to be extremely vicious and reportedly had killed as many as 19 people and destroyed various houses.
On Wednesday night, the wild elephant was spotted on the banks of the Behramar village of Chhal forest near Behramar village. Subsequently, on Thursday morning, the carcass of a tusker was spotted behind a house in Behramar village under Chhal forest range of Raigarh, Divisional Forest Officer, Dharamjaigarh division, Priyanka Pandey said.
After being alerted by the local villagers about the death of the male elephant, the team of Forest Department rushed to the spot and started investigation, she further said.
Addressing the whole incident, PCCF Atul Shukla said that the carcass of male tusker on Thursday spotted at Behramar village comes under Chhal forest range in Raigarh district.
While talking to Lalluram.com, PCCF said that “only after the post-mortem will the exact cause of the death of male pachderm be known. Preliminary investigation suggested that there is no external injury on the body of male elephant. Bengaluru based two elephant experts will probe the matter.”
The PCCF Shukla told that as per Dharamjaigarh DFO Priyanka Pandey, the carcass of wild tusker is identified as “Ganesh”. The department has asked for the dobier of the elephant to confirm its identication.
Shukla added that strict actions will be taken against the culprits and nobody will be spared.
The PCCF further said that on July 2019, a radio caller ID was installed the male elephant Ganesh, which was lost on May this year and could not be reinstated so far.
The wild pachyderm “Ganesh” has been killed 19 persons so far. Seventeen people were killed by the tusker before installing caller ID while two persons were killed after radio-callering of the wild jumbo.
In the last 10 years, 130 elephants have died in Chhattisgarh. Of 130, 44 tuskers have died due to electrocution including 22 elephants lost their lives in Dharamjaigarh forest division.
——- Vijay Singh Thakur