Aman Ullah:
Forest workers have recovered the body of a wild elephant that died after being ‘touched by an electric wire’ from a beel in Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar. Md. Abdul Mannan, Range Officer of Ukhia Range of the Forest Department, said that the incident took place sometime late last Monday night in a beel adjacent to West Khayrati Rahmania Para of Rajapalong Union of Ukhia Upazila. He said that the dead elephant was approximately 40 to 45 years old. The elephant had dark burn marks on several parts of its body.
Quoting locals, Abdul Mannan said that on Tuesday morning, locals saw a large wild elephant lying dead in a beel adjacent to West Khayrati Rahmania Para of Ukhia. Later, they informed the local UP member about the matter. After being informed of the incident, a team of forest workers visited the spot. Meanwhile, the elephant lying dead in a local beel was recovered. Although the exact cause of the elephant’s death could not be confirmed, he said that it may have died after falling into an electric wire trap, seeing the black burn marks on its body. Local resident and village doctor Md. Yunus said that due to the food crisis in the mountains, there has been a long-standing conflict between wild elephants and humans. This often causes wild elephants to come to the locality. Recently, the number of wild elephants has increased around the mountainous area. As a result, there have been incidents of elephants coming to the locality destroying crop fields and houses. And to protect crop fields and houses from wild elephants, many people have set electric wire traps. As a result, wild elephants that come to the locality sometimes die from electrocution.
Forest range officer Abdul Mannan said that arrangements have been made to bury the elephant after the autopsy. In addition, an investigation is being conducted to confirm the cause of the elephant’s death.
According to the Forest Department, a total of five wild elephants have died in the Ukhia and Teknaf areas from January 2025 to November 18 this year. Of these, one female elephant died in Teknaf, two in the Hnila Bit area and Jumchhari, one in Dochhari, and the latest one in West Khayrati of Ukhia.
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