Guwahati: A wild elephant lay dead at Shilchang in Jagiroad, Assam, yesterday. Officials discovered two clear bullet marks on the animal's head. The elephant likely wandered from the Kholahat forest area looking for food before it met its end. Investigators now suspect poachers from Meghalaya pulled the trigger, but the exact circumstances remain a mystery.
Forest Department officials and a team of veterinarians swarmed the scene to investigate. They are waiting for a post-mortem report to confirm the cause of death. This evidence will decide if the state files formal criminal charges. As the Forest Department puts it, the department is "awaiting the post-mortem report to determine the precise cause of death and ascertain whether further legal action is warranted."
Assam holds one of the biggest elephant herds in India. The latest DNA-based census puts the state's wild elephant count at 4,159, placing it second only to Karnataka. However, the state's own internal count records a higher figure of 5,828 animals.
Deadly clashes between humans and wildlife persist across the region. Recent data presented to the Assam Assembly reveals a grim toll from the last ten years. Human-elephant conflicts claimed the lives of 1,147 people and 246 elephants during that span.
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