Elephant carcass found near Corbett with tusk missing

An elephant carcass, slit to pieces, was found in Uttar Pradesh’s Badpur area, a km from Corbett Tiger Reserve boundary, two days ago. Its tusks were missing.

The reserve management has stepped up vigilance across the boundary after recovery of the carcass.

According to reports, the incident was reported on March 24 when a forest patrolling team of the neighbouring state found the carcass.

The area falls outside Corbett boundary. But, people close to the matter said both the states should take responsibility.

“The animal could possibly be from Corbett. And it’s an incident that exposes the poor security measures on the border areas. They (officers) claim that joint patrolling is conducted with UP staff, but it is eyewash. Both states need to activate field exercise,” an activist, requesting anonymity, said.

The head of forest force Jai Raj reported the matter on Monday evening to the Corbett management that cross checked and found that the animal died in UP.

“We have confirmed that the incident happened in UP. Elephants and big cats are free ranging animals and obviously they don’t understand the boundary so well. As a precaution, we have beefed up vigilance in the southern boundary,” said Surendra Mehra, director Corbett.

Others close to the matter said the elephant carcass was found within a radius of 1 km from Kathgodar in UP, where the accused of five tiger skin seizure (2016) took officers and they found pits which were used to store wildlife parts.

The area is sensitive, yet Uttarakhand officers blame poor security measures of the neighbouring state.

“We conduct strict vigilance in our area. But, can’t take the responsibility of UP. They need to have effective workforce on ground,” said Digvijay Singh Khati, chief wildlife warden.

The state reported 1,346 elephants in 2012, which increased to 1,839 in 2017, as per the Synchronisation Population Estimation released last year.