Poachers electrocute two elephants in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: A female elephant and a six-month-old male calf were killed on Saturday after they came in contact with an electric trap laid by poachers in a forest in Odisha’s Ganjam district. The incident came to light even as the Odisha government is celebrating Wildlife Week.

Worse, poachers have been using electric wires to kill elephants for ivory and make it look like accidental death. The carcass of a tusker was recovered two days ago in a forest in Mayurbhanj district similarly electrocuted, which was preceded by the killing of two elephants at Buguda in Ganjam district last month. Every week, elephant poaching or electrocution of other animals is reported from all over Odisha.

Ghumsar forest officer KC Mishra was in tears narrating Saturday’s incident. “I couldn’t stand the sight of the mother elephant and its baby lying dead. I can’t believe that poachers are so depraved that they’d kill a baby elephant,” Mishra said.