The body of an elephant with its two tusks missing was recovered from Adnala forest range of the Kalagarh tiger reserve in the Kotwar area of district Pauri Garhwal on Friday, evidently looking to be a clear case of poaching. Chief Wild Life Warden SK Chandola and Director Corbett National Park Rajiv Bhartari have reached the site to ascertain the cause of death.

The body of the pachyderm with both of his tusks missing raised eyebrows among the forest authorities. The elephant is supposed to be aged around 15 years and the state of the body evidently revealed that the animal had died about twenty to twenty-five days back.

However, two theories are floating in the forest department. The elephant died due to a fall and somebody removed his tusks subsequently or some poachers killed the elephant with an aim to get its tusks.

In the meantime, the forest authorities are trying to ascertain the cause of death and are tightlipped about the cause of death.

Significantly, the forest authorities had started long term patrolling some time back as a precautionary measure to check any possible act of poaching. In the backdrop of intelligence inputs, the forest authorities in Uttarakhand had beefed up security measures recently. There were reports of nomadic tribes entering into the State with the intention of poaching.

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