5th jumbo carcass found at Athgarh

BHUBANESWAR: The skeleton of another elephant was found buried in Mandap reserve forest’s Athgarh forest division on Monday night. On June 2 and 3, three buried carcasses were exhumed by the Special Task Force (STF) of the crime branch.
In June, altogether five carcasses (four from Athgarh and one from Satkosia division) have been exhumed so far. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the issue, suspects that the incidents of elephant death cover-ups are being managed by forest personnel along with the help of outsiders or an inter-state gang.
The SIT, comprising regional chief conservator of forests (Angul) M Yogajayanand, another chief conservator of forests of the forest department headquarters and a senior STF officer and director of Nandankanan Zoo, Manoj Nair, discovered the fifth carcass during its course of investigation. The SIT said forest personnel, who earlier faced action in such cases, are involved in the latest case as well.
It has baffled the investigators that most of these burials have happened during the tenure of a particular divisional forest officer as the majority of the carcases were found to be one year old.
“It has almost been established that our department’s lower-ranked staff are involved in such cases. We are trying to find out if there is many more such cases. The skeleton’s sample has been sent to Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology to determine the animal’s sex,” said Yogajayanand.
The Wildlife Society of Odisha said of 770 elephant deaths in the past 10 years, the cause of death could not be ascertained in 161 cases.
WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty said the government should act strongly against the divisional forest officer during whose tenure such cover up took place.
Bhubaneswar: The skeleton of another elephant was found buried in Mandap reserve forest’s Athgarh forest division on Monday night. On June 2 and 3, three buried carcasses were exhumed by the Special Task Force (STF) of the crime branch.
In June, altogether five carcasses (four from Athgarh and one from Satkosia division) have been exhumed so far. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the issue, suspects that the incidents of elephant death cover-ups are being managed by forest personnel along with the help of outsiders or an inter-state gang.
The SIT, comprising regional chief conservator of forests (Angul) M Yogajayanand, another chief conservator of forests of the forest department headquarters and a senior STF officer and director of Nandankanan Zoo, Manoj Nair, discovered the fifth carcass during its course of investigation. The SIT said forest personnel, who earlier faced action in such cases, are involved in the latest case as well.
It has baffled the investigators that most of these burials have happened during the tenure of a particular divisional forest officer as the majority of the carcases were found to be one year old.
“It has almost been established that our department’s lower-ranked staff are involved in such cases. We are trying to find out if there is many more such cases. The skeleton’s sample has been sent to Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology to determine the animal’s sex,” said Yogajayanand.
The Wildlife Society of Odisha said of 770 elephant deaths in the past 10 years, the cause of death could not be ascertained in 161 cases.
WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty said the government should act strongly against the divisional forest officer during whose tenure such cover up took place.