7 Aug 2022

On July 29, a 25-year-old tusker in Narasinghpur East range of Athagarh forest division of Cuttack district with at least five pellet injuries on its ear and head died of organ failure. The veterinary doctors who treated the tusker unsuccessfully suspected that one of the pellets may have pierced deep into its head. The wounded elephant, likely to be a victim of a gang of local poachers in Athagarh division, was first sighted by local people on July 23 who tipped off wildlife activists and later the chief wildlife warden.

It was tranquilised on July 25, but it was too late as the wounds caused by the pellets had triggered septicemia.

The death of the tusker was a re-run of a similar poaching of a tusker in June first week when another tusker with at least 5 pellet injuries on its trunk, face, legs and body was found writhing in pain in the same forest range by local people.

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