A 3-year-old elephant was found dead by the authorities in the forests of Odisha, India, on Wednesday this week.

Authorities believe that the elephant was killed by poachers.

The death of the 3-year-old elephant came to light after women from the Dakapadar Village, which is located near the Mundeswara forest, saw the dead body lying in the forest as they tried to collect mushrooms.

The forest is under the jurisdictions of the Madhapur forest range of Boudh district.

The tusks of the elephant were intact when authorities found it.

Forest officials seized the body of the 3-year-old elephant and concluded that the poor little fella died 2 to 3 days ago.

In this month alone, 4 elephants have died as a result of poaching.

3 elephants, a male, female, and a calf, died in Odisha after they got in contact with livewire that was set up by poachers to trap wild boars.

On June 14, 2020, forest officials in the Keonjhar district found carcasses of a male and female, the tusks of the male elephant were removed.

An investigation found out that poachers left a livewire connected to 11-kilovolt transmission lines for wild boars that left the 2 elephants dead.

As a result, a forester and a forest guard were suspended for not doing their duties properly.

On June 12, 2020, an elephant calf died under similar circumstances in the Sundargarh district as it came in contact with livewire that was set up for wild boars.

Since April 2019, wildlife conservationists believe that over 50 percent of elephant deaths in Odisha were due to unnatural causes.

Biswajit Mohanty, a noted wildlife conservationist, said:

The number of deaths of adult breeding elephants has gone up. The state is rapidly losing adult males, about 20 every year. This has threatened the sustainability and health of our elephant population.

Let us all hope that the killers get arrested by the authorities.