Jumbos dead near paddy fields

TT, Oct. 21: The carcasses of two wild elephants were found at separate spots in the Dooars forests this morning with no external injuries, but clotted blood was noticed on the trunk of the male elephant whose tusks were intact.

Although no external injury marks were noticed, forest guards said they were not ruling out unnatural death in the case of the tusker and a pregnant adult female.

Some forest officers raised doubts that the animals may have been poisoned with pesticide, sprinkled on paddy fields near forests to keep away marauding herds.

The tusker was found dead in the Diana forest, about 10km from where the pregnant jumbo was spotted in Champramari.

The forest stretches are adjacent to each other in the Nagrakata block in Jalpaiguri district.

On Saturday, two elephants died of electrocution in Naxalbari, around 35km from Siliguri.

“There was blood on the trunk of one elephant which was a tusker, while the other animal was pregnant,” a forest source said. “We are not ruling out the possibility that the animals may not have died naturally and are awaiting post-mortem reports.”

Both the animals were found near paddy fields.

A senior forester said: “It is ominous for wildlife in the region if live wire or pesticides in paddy fields are used to keep elephants away. Several elephants had died on the fringes of reserve forests and close to the elephant corridor from electrocution and poisoning. We had toiled hard to convince farmers to abstain from such practices. It is indeed a cause of concern for us.”

“Vets have been called for post-mortem as it is rare that an animal dying naturally would have blood on its trunk,” said Narayan Chandra Saha, the beat officer of Diana forest.

Hriday Roy, a local resident, said: “There is a chance that the tusker may have died of poisoning as there is a trend among a section of local farmers to use pesticides in their fields to prevent elephants from damaging the crop.”