Forest trackers found a three year old male elephant calf dead in the forest of Bhajna under the Kutku range of the tiger reserve Palamu.
Autopsy of its body was done today and buried at the same place where it was found dead on Tuesday.
Kumar Ashish deputy director North division of the tiger reserve Palamu confirming the discovery of the dead male calf said the luckless calf had an abdominal abscess or wound which was found to have an abundance of maggots and that abscess or wound became the cause of death.
Ashish said there was no foul play. It had no other worrisome external injury except that abdominal wound.
How this abdominal wound occurred to which Ashish said the calf might have eaten something that caused it this internal injury which never healed naturally and caused this death of the elephant.
He ruled out poaching saying the calf had no tusks rather the tusks were about to form in its body and so there is no tusks angle at all behind the death of this elephant calf.
On if this calf became a victim of man elephant conflict he said this is also not tenable as villagers don’t wreak havoc on the calf of the elephant for the wrongs done by the adult elephants.
Ashish agreed elephants are made to die in man elephant conflict but calves are seldom the victim or the object of the anger or revenge of the people who suffer at the hands of the adult elephants.
Sources said religion and mercy for the calves saved their life in man elephant conflict.
