A female elephant was found dead in Chapahati village in Meghalaya’s South West Garo Hills district, am official said on June 13.
According to a Wildlife official, the villagers, who were proceeding to their agricultural fields, sighted the dead pachyderm at Duragapara area and informed the police, who subsequently alerted the Wildlife officials.
“It appears that the elephant has been hit by a spear-like object, as it suffered an injury at its back. A team of Wildlife personnel have conducted a post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of the death,” Divisional Forest Officer for Wildlife, Arpiyush Ch Sangma said.
The post-mortem report of the tusker is awaited.
“The elephant must have moved between India and Bangladesh. We are unsure if the elephant had inflicted the injury in India or Bangladesh. It may have strayed into the human habitation or paddy fields, after which it was possibly attacked by people or trapped by poachers, leading to its death,” Sangma said.
He said the site where the elephant was found dead, is around 900 metres away from India-Bangladesh border.
The South West Garo Hills district falls under the famed ‘elephant corridor’, with the pachyderms known to juggle between the borders of Bangladesh and India in herds.
