In another case of suspected poaching, the carcasses of two elephants were found from a reserve forest area of Koenjhar district on Sunday.
Officials said the carcasses of a female elephant and a male were found in the Gurubeda reserve forest under Joda forest section of Keonjhar district over the weekend.
Keonjhar DFO Santosh Joshi said the female elephant was around 20 years old and the carcass seemed to be lying there for more than a week. The male tusker, about 22 years old, was killed three days ago and the tusks were missing. We have started a probe to ascertain the actual cause leading to their death.
The death of the two elephants came two days after an elephant calf was found dead in Sundargarh district with injury marks on its neck. Initial investigation suggested that the calf fell into a trap laid to capture wild boars.
A forest guard was suspended over the incident.
Last month, two more elephants were found dead in Keonjhar. While the carcass of one was found at a farmland, the decomposed carcass of another was found a few days ago.