Veterinarian Abhijit Bhawal holds the bullet extracted from the elephant carcass. A Telegraph picture

Dibrugarh, March 7: An elephant killed and its tusks gouged out by poachers some 20 days ago in an un-patrolled part of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park was located by a search team last evening.

The team consisting of officials from the forest department and nature lovers found the carcass in Laikapathar in the Guijan range of the national park.

“They reported early this morning from the spot that bullet marks had been found in the head of the elephant. They also found some fired cases. It is a clear case of poaching,” divisional forest officer of Tinsukia wildlife division, Aniruddha Dey, said.

A team member said circumstantial evidence indicated that the elephant had been killed some 20 days ago.

The information about the kill, according to Dey, reached late since the area is deep inside the jungle and is surrounded by rivulets and streams.

“You can say it is almost an unguarded territory. Our men hardly reach there while patrolling. This might had given the poachers good opportunity to hunt in the area,” the official said.

The forest department received the information from some fishermen who had gone to the area on Friday.

“As soon as we received the information we formed a team which included some of our men, some NGO workers and local people and set out on boats to locate the poaching site. Initially, we had information that four elephants might have been killed,” Dey said.

“The poachers had severed the head of the elephant from the body and gouged out the two tusks,” Chiranjeeb Gogoi, a science teacher of Rupai High School and an orchid researcher, who was part of the search team, said.

The group said the elephant should be around 10 to 12 years old and stood about 6-foot tall.

Another elephant died of its injuries after it fought with a member of its herd near Bogibeel in Dibrugarh district this morning. Jiten Bora, ranger, Dibrugarh Range, said the elephant had been badly wounded in the fight.

“We located the elephant and tried to treat the wounds inflicted by tusks, but it died at around 11.30 this morning,” Bora said.

Poachers shot at and injured a rhino inside Kaziranga National Park last evening.

Sources said gunshots were heard near the Rangamotia anti-poaching camp in the Agaratoli range and a search operation was launched. The rhino was found this morning with blood oozing from several points in the body.

“The horn is intact, though,” a source said.