Tusker found dead near Siliguri

Darjeeling: A tusker, identified as "Bayan Ganesh," was found dead on Friday night in the jungles of Sukna Army Cantonment near Siliguri.

The Forest department was informed. Post-mortem of the carcass has been conducted on Saturday.

"We are awaiting the post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of death. The body, however, bore no external injury marks. His tusk was also intact," stated Jayanta Mandal, ADFO, Wildlife Division.

The male elephant was in the age bracket of 50 to 55 years. Usually, an elephant lives for around 70 to 75 years.

This male wild tusker had been roaming in the vicinity for the past few years and used to often stray into adjoining human habitats.

Interestingly, as the elephant used to have only a single tusk on its left, he used to be called "Bayan Ganesh" (Left Ganesh) after the elephant headed Hindu deity Ganesha who is said to have a broken tusk too.

The cause of unnatural deaths of pachyderms in North Bengal includes getting mowed by trains; electrocution and in some cases poisoning as well.