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Alipurduar, Jan. 30: The carcass of a female elephant with several fractures was found in Buxa yesterday and foresters believe it was one of the five jumbos hit by a train on January 5.
The body of the adult female was found in the Pan 6 compartment of the Gadadhar range of Buxa Tiger Reserve’s west division.
The forest department said the post-mortem proved it was the same elephant that had been hit by the train and then spotted limping with a 40-member herd.
Five elephants were hit by the train and three died on the spot. Of the two injured animals, one had been taken away by foresters for treatment, but it died a few days later.
P. Saini, the field director of the reserve, said the elephant whose carcass was spotted yesterday evening had died 48 hours ago.
“The autopsy showed that the elephant had fractures on the right fore and hind legs. It had also suffered injuries on the backbone. The post-mortem shows that the same elephant was hit by the Jhajha Express. Although our staff had found the elephant with injuries after the accident, we couldn’t treat the animal as it was part of a herd,” said Saini.
The foresters said the female elephant had been guarded by two tuskers of the herd. “So, we didn’t dare to go near the animal and treat it. Even today, the vets had to be cautious during the post-mortem as the herd was roaming nearby,” said a forest officer.
The carcass was cremated inside the forest today.
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