Poachers target tusker at a jungle in West Singhbhum

Jamshedpur : In a shocking incident of poaching, a tusker was killed by suspected poachers at a jungle in Chaibasa, West Singhbhum district.

The elephant, which was found dead at the dense jungle, was poisoned to death. Both the tusks of the elephant were also missing.

Divisional forest officer, South Chaibasa, S R Natesh confirmed about the poaching of a tusker, and said that the incident was being investigated.

” It is too early to comment as to who were involved but as per our initial investigation it appears that the tusker was poisoned by the poachers in the Mayurbhanj jungle and the tusker had gradually died after crossing Karan river on Odisha-Jharkhand bordering Jharkhand on the Monday night and died here today,” said Natesh.

The DFO revealed that a post-mortem was conducted in which it was confirmed that the tusker was poisoned to death. There was no mark of gun-shot injuries also that led to the suspicion that the animal was poisoned.

“The victim must have strayed away from its herd that led the poachers to target the animal. Following being poisoned, the elephant had crossed over to Chaibasa jungle where he collapsed,” the divisional forest officer said.

Sources went on to inform that a team of veterinary doctors which conducted the post-mortem has preserved the viscera of the poached elephant for sending to a hi-tech laboratory for study the kind of poison administered into the tusker.

Meanwhile, the forest department has launched a search operation to nab the poachers active in the region and take action against them. � We have launched a drive and have also informed the local police to increase vigil at the bordering areas of Odisha and Jharkhand,� said an official of forest department.