Post-mortem reports to reveal cause of elephant's death in Orang National Park: APCCF

The reason for the death of the fully-grown wild elephant at Assam's Orang National Park will be clear after the post-mortem reports are in, however, prima facie it does not look like a case of overdose, said Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mahendra Kumar Yadav.

"I cannot say for sure whether the elephant died of an overdose or not for sure but I am also worried about it getting a cardiac arrest. There are no signs that the elephant was being kept chained, it had eaten well and gone off to sleep. The post-mortem process was completed at 3:30 and its report will reveal more details," Yadav told reporters here.

Earlier on Sunday, six days after it was captured and brought to a training facility in Sonitpur district for domestication after being blamed for killing five people in Goalpara district on October 29.

The newly rechristened elephant 'Krishna', was captured with the help of drones and brought to the facility on November 12 as residents protested against its release in a reserve forest saying it would endanger more human lives.

In a statement released on Sunday, Divisional Forest Officer, Mangaldai Wildlife Division BV Sandeep stated that Krishna was brought for treatment and subsequent training in the early hours of November 13 to the Elephant Training Camp here. The elephant died in the early hours of Sunday at around 5:45 am.

"The elephant was in constant observation and good care and had started responding well to the Mahouts. The elephant had a normal intake of food and showed normal behaviour," the statement read.

"The elephant's carcass was buried with due honours near the training centre as per the standard wildlife practices after the completion of the post mortem at 4 pm. Vicera and blood samples were collected by the team of the doctor for further investigations," the statement added.