Severed elephant head, with tusks removed, found floating in W Bengal river
The area from where the elephant head was found is close to the Bengal-Assam border and forest officials apprehend that the animal was killed recently
Forest officials in north Bengal recovered the severed head of an elephant floating down a river in Alipurduar district on Friday.
The elephant’s tusks were missing and this prompted the officials to suspect that the animal was killed by poachers somewhere in Assam.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that the elephant was not killed in our territory. It was killed somewhere in Assam. Search operation is going on. We are coordinating with our counterparts in Assam,” Debashis Sharma, deputy field director of Buxa Tiger Reserve (East), told the media.
He said that poachers might have killed the elephant for its tusks in Assam. After receiving the tusks, they severed the head and threw it in the river to dispose of, he added.
On Friday evening, villagers living near Volka range of Buxa Tiger Reserve spotted the severed elephant head floating in the Sankosh river in Alipurduar. The area from where the head was found is close to the Bengal-Assam border. Officials apprehend that the animal was killed recently.
“It appears that the elephant was killed recently,” said Prabhat Barman, Volka forest range officer, who was among the first few persons to rush to the Shalbari area on the banks of Sankosh River upon receiving the report.