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Elephant shot dead by villager

BHUBANESWAR: A male elephant was shot dead by a 70-year-old villager of Madhupur in Khurda district on Tuesday. The villager, Purnachandra Baliyarsingh, claimed to have fired the shot in his self-defence. The elephant that succumbed to bullet injury on the spot belonged to Chandaka-Dompara Sanctuary and the lone pachyderm had entered human habitation in search of food.

Forest department had seized the country-made gun and launched an investigation to verify the claim that elephant was killed in self-defence. “The male elephant had a single tusk on his right side. The elephant was called as Abhimanyu which used to go out of the sanctuary regularly,” sanctuary Divisional Forest Officer Akshaya Patnaik said.

With the death of the elephant, the toll from Chandaka sanctuary rose to four within last 12 months.

Khurda DFO G. Rajesh said the gun license of the villager would thoroughly be checked. “We have to ascertain if Baliyarsingh had shot from the gun for which he was holding the license,” Mr. Rajesh said.

It has been a regular phenomenon that elephants from the sanctuary go outside in search of food.

During last few months, more than two dozens of elephants had stayed outside the sanctuary limit for several days raiding crops and damaging houses.

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