Baripada: Forest officials recovered the carcass of a female elephant from the core area of Nana forest range inside Similipal wildlife sanctuary in Mayurbhanj district, Sunday.
The animal, aged about 40, is suspected to have died after falling down from hilltop inside the sanctuary.
The matter came to the fore when the forest officials were carrying out an enumeration drive of tigers and birds inside the wildlife sanctuary, according to the forest department.
The forest officials noticed the carcass stuck on a tree and recovered it. Sai Kiran, deputy director of North Similipal wildlife sanctuary and Jashipur forest officials launched an investigation into its death.
Circumstantial evidences indicated that the animal might have died after sliding down from a height of 30-ft of hilly slope inside the sanctuary.
A post-mortem was conducted on the carcass and the actual reason behind its death could be ascertained only after the report is available to the forest department, forest officials added.
PNN