The carcass of the elephant. A Telegraph picture

Alipurduar, March 5: The carcass of an elephant calf was found in Volka range under Buxa Tiger Reserve (East) yesterday. According to the post-mortem report, the elephant — aged about four years — had no external or internal injuries.

The forest officials are worried as the incident is the third of its kind in the past one month. After being informed about the matter, Suvankar Sengupta, the deputy field director of the Buxa Tiger Reserve (East), visited the spot and called three veterinary doctors to conduct the post-mortem.

Sengupta said he was sending samples to Calcutta and Guwahati for tests to determine the cause of death. “There are chances of the pachyderm dying of an infectious disease. Since the forest is contiguous to Assam, any disease there will quickly spread to our range.”

On February 27, the carcass of an elephant — about two years old — was spotted by forest officials in the Chengmari beat area. The cause of its death is still not known.

Two days later, on February 29, an adult tusker was found dead in Panbari area under Buxa Tiger Reserve (West).