Forest workers recover severed leg of elephant from Sankosh River

Alipurduar: On Monday evening, the severed leg of an elephant was spotted in Sankosh River. This incident comes on the heels of a severed head of an elephant found floating in the same river near the Bengal-Assam border, on Friday evening. Despite a search of the forest under the Buxa Tiger Reserve, the rest of the elephant’s body could not be located. Forest workers from the Volka Range of the Buxa Tiger Project fished out the severed leg from the river.

Apurba Sen, field director of Buxa Tiger Project, said: “The part of the leg will be sent for forensic examination. The matter is currently under investigation.” The forest department is probing whether the severed leg belongs to the same elephant whose head had previously been recovered. Although the initial assumption is that the wild elephant’s severed head drifted down the Sankosh River from Assam, the circumstances surrounding how and why the elephant’s head was detached and the location of the incident remain unclear. The head did not have the tusks giving rise to suspected poaching.