Elephant dies while trying to save new born

Baripada, Nov 23 (UNI) An elephant died in a fight with a royal Bengal tiger while defending its new born.

''We found the dead elephant lying in a pool of blood and the tiger had vanished into the forest with the calf,'' Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) Nawana (South) Range Officer Aswini Kumar Mohanty said yesterday adding that the elephant had multiple injuries on its body.

STR Field Director Debabrata Swain said the baby elephants were the favourite dish of the tigers in the forest reserve.

The autopsy report of Jashipur Veterinary Assistant Surgeon (VAS) Dr Desharanjan Prusty revealed that the 30-year-old elephant died of the tiger attack, the STR sources said.

The canines of the tiger had punctured the elephant's lower abdomen with viscera wide open and there were scratch wounds in the lower part of the neck, which confirmed that the animal died due to the tiger's attack, they said.

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