Bhubaneswar, May 30: A seven-year-old elephant died at Nandankanan zoo this morning of stomach ailment.

The jumbo called Jagan was brought to the zoo in December 2009 after being rescued from a forest in Sundergarh.

"Jagan was suffering from a stomach ailment from Sunday and was being treated by the zoo vets. Despite our best efforts, its health condition did not improve and the jumbo died this morning," said a zoo official.

Deputy director of the zoo Jayant Dash said a probe would be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of the death.

Later, a team of experts from Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) conducted a post-mortem of the elephant.

The autopsy report revealed that the animal was suffering from Black Quarter disease.

"This disease is not common in elephants and is caused by soil contamination. This is the first time that an elephant was found suffering from this disease in the zoo. We have seen deer, black bugs and Nilgai getting infected by Black Quarter disease," said pathology department chief of OUAT Susen Kumar Panda.

Zoo authorities said the enclosures would be sanitised to ensure that the disease didn't spread to other elephants.

"The enclosures will be cleaned once again. The expert team has also collected blood samples from other elephants," said a zoo official.

Today's incident has emerged as a blow to the zoo officials after an eight-year-old tigress at the zoo gave birth to a stillborn melanistic cub on May 25.

"Today's incident was unfortunate . However, our mortality rate is low compared to other zoos in the country. We have been providing all possible health care facilities to the animals here," said a zoo official.