Jumbo body found, tusks missing

TT, Jalpaiguri, Oct. 5: The carcass of a full-grown elephant with both its tusks missing was found in the Dalgaon forest area near here on Thursday.

“Some local people from Dalgaon forest village saw the decomposed body of the tusker on thursday and informed us. The elephant was lying inside the forest close to Dalgaon Tea Estate,” a forest source said.

The Dalgaon forest stretch, around 70km from here, on the fringes of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and is also close to Birpara town. Foresters suspect that the animal was killed by poachers.

The incident has raised questions on the patrolling of forest guards.

“It is evident that the tusker died or was killed some days back as the body was decomposed. Forest guards of Dalgaon range and the nearby areas carry out routine patrolling but how could they not see the carcass. If it is a handiwork of poachers, the forest guards have to take more responsibility as they are deputed to ensure the security of wild animals,” forest villagers said.

Senior forest officers of Jalpaiguri are tight-lipped on the issue.

“We are awaiting the post-mortem report and will comment on the cause of death after that,” a senior forest official said.

In another incident, one person died and two others sustained injuries in separate incidents of elephant attack in the Dooars in the past two days.

On Friday, Subrata Mondal, 16, a resident of Gazoldoba, around 30km from here near Baikunthapur forest, died after he was attacked by a tusker. Subrata, along with his neighbour Mithin Sarkar, was guarding their agricultural land. They were driving away birds when they came in front of a tusker, that was roaming in the area. The elephant attacked both of them.

The family members rushed the duo to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri but Subrata died on the way. Sarkar is under treatment.

Sabi Chhetri, a resident of Udaypur in Banarhat, around 50km from here, came across a tusker while she was heading for her home through the Kalabari forest area yesterday evening. The elephant tossed her with its trunk. She is under treatment at a local health centre.