GUWAHATI: The body of a wild elephant was recovered from the Pukhuripara area under Bondapara forest reserve at Boko in Kamrup district on Thursday morning.
According to sources in the state forest department, the seven-foot tall male elephant had been roaming around for some days in the area, close to the Assam-Meghalaya border, for some days and had been carrying a leg injury.
“We received information about the dead elephant on Thursday morning and subsequently informed the matter to the police to investigate the animal’s death. Samples were later taken and a postmortem has been conducted,” Arun Sarma, ranger, Bondapara forest reserve told The Shillong Times on Thursday afternoon.
Even as a section of the locals suspect that the elephant could be a victim of poaching, the forest department however is not convinced yet.
“We cannot say that poachers have killed the elephant. The matter is under investigation and the cause of the death would be known soon. As it is, we have been monitoring the elephant which used to roam around the area in search of food,” Sarma said.
“The elephant could not walk long distances. Five days back we had arranged food like bananas for the elephant, but it could not eat,” Dhananjay Hazowary, a resident of Pukhuripara near Boko, told a section of the media.