Wildlife activists Bhanumitra Acharya and Sanjukta Basha look on as forest workers dig out the remains of the buried elephants at Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, May 7: The alleged killing of four elephants in the Similipal National Park, the latest in a series of poaching cases at the famous wildlife habitat, has set the cat among the pigeons.

Similipal field director Anup Nayak, who is set to leave for the spot in the Nuana south range of the park where wildlife activists on Thursday recovered the remains of four buried elephants, made no bones about the mounting concern over elephant killings in the 2,750sqkm sanctuary located in Mayurbhanj district.

“There were 15 elephant deaths in 2010-11, while another seven died in 2011-12. This year, this is the second case of elephant death,” said Nayak. His deputy Bikash Ranjan Dash has already reached the spot to inquire into the incident.

Sources said that the four elephants appeared to have been poisoned and burnt before being buried near Domuhani nullah in the Nuana south range of the park. While the decomposed carcass of one elephant was found at the spot, remains in the form of skulls and bones of three others were discovered later.

“The deaths must have taken place 20 to 30 days ago,” said Nayak.

While the remains of three elephants were found close to one another, the body parts of the fourth one, believed to be a calf, were lying buried a short distance away. Mayurbhanj’s honorary wildlife warden Sanjukta Basha, who along with wildlife activist Bhanumitra Acharya got the remains dug up in the presence of Nuana north range officer Bijay Nath Marandi, alleged that an inter-state poaching syndicate was behind the killing of the elephants.

Nayak, however, ruled out the hand of professional poachers in these incidents. “In most cases, they have killed female elephants. That cannot be the work of professionals,” said the officer who, nonetheless, remained worried about the large number of elephant deaths in Similipal.

While Similipal continues to be on focus, wildlife officials have been trying hard to track a wounded tusker allegedly shot by poachers in the forests of Rairakhole. The animal has been seen moving in the Chhendipada forest range in Angul district for the last four days.

Local residents who spotted the animal in the Kosala forest, 20-km away from Angul, said that the 50-year-old tusker was carrying a bullet injury on its leg.

“We are keeping track of the injured elephant and waiting for a medical team from Nandankanan to arrive for his treatment,” said S. Panda, the forest range officer of Chhedipada.

While man-animal conflict is on the rise, the Odisha government has planned nine more elephant corridors in the state in addition to the 14 proposed earlier.

Of the nine new proposed corridors, five will be in Dhenkanal district and four in Cuttack. The creation of the corridors would be taken up under an ongoing government project with focus on bringing down elephant deaths.