GUWAHATI, JAN 9: A carcass of a wild elephant was recovered at Takawni Reserve Forest under Domdoma Forest Division in upper Assam Tinsukia district on Monday morning.
According to sources, the villagers spotted the carcass of an elephant and informed the forest officials. Later forest official came and collected the samples of the dead elephant for an postmortem.
It was suspected that the elephant was died due to poisoning. But it is not clear that how the elephant died.
“Due to habitat loss, the elephant are entering human habitation in search of food which resulting in conflict. Most of the elephant corridors were encroached by humans and elephant facing free movement,” said an environmentalist.
He said, “Due to fragmentation of forest, the elephants are in constant fear and it might be the reason of the elephant death. Elephants are emotional animals and they are facing immense problem due to deforestation,”.
Last month, a wild elephant was found dead in a paddy field at Khatangpani Pengree under the Margherita subdivision in Assam’s Tinsukia.
It was suspected that the elephant died due to electrocution.
“Community participation is necessary to save the wild elephants. The people should understand the emotions of the animals. If we human have emotions, similarly elephants have also emotions,” said Devojit Moran, an environmentalist.
As many as 121 elephants died unnaturally in Assam from 2017-18 to 2021-22, against 494 in the country. Thus 24.49 per cent of the elephant deaths in India in the past five years occurred in Assam.
During the past five years, 27 elephants died in train accidents in the state against 80 in the nation. During the period, electrocution led to the death of 69 elephants in the state against 348 in the country.
Poachers killed four elephants in the state against 41 in the country. Twenty-one elephants were poisoned to death in the state against 25 in the country.