Anglong/Nagaon (Assam):Three wild elephants including a newborn cub died while another young pachyderm sustained grievous injuries in multiple incidents in Assam on Saturday.
In the first incident, two wild elephants who came out of a forest near Howraghat in West Karbi Anglong were killed in the early hours of Saturday after they came in touch with electric wires laid down by local farmers to stop elephant invasion in paddy fields. As the rice harvest is at its prime, elephants frequently come out of forests in search of food.
The two elephants did the same on Friday night but fell into the trap. Animal lovers condemned the deaths and raised questions against the state forest department for not dealing with such human-elephant conflict with the required seriousness.
In the second incident, a newborn elephant died in the forest office of Nagaon on Saturday morning. Notably, the cub was rescued by the forest officials a day earlier after it reportedly got separated soon after birth from a large herd of elephants near Borkola Village of Nagaon. The elephant cub, which was born on Friday, died at the Katimari Wildlife Division office on Saturday morning.
In the third incident, another young wild elephant was found badly injured in Balijuri under Barhampur in Nagaon district. The elephant had come out of the hills of Balijuri four days ago in search of food. Eyewitnesses said they saw the injured elephant coming to a paddy field in Garchuk.
Though the locals informed the veterinary doctors earlier, they arrived only on Saturday and started the treatment. Locals have also expressed anger against the district forest officer for not reaching the spot on time even after he was informed in time.
Also read:
- How Assam NGO 'Hati Bondhu' plugged human-animal conflict by cultivating food for wild elephants
- Elephant, calf found dead in separate incidents in Assam's Mariani and Biswanath
