GUWAHATI: Forest officials have established that at least one elephant was killed in March on a bed of six-inch-long metallic spikes that was laid down by the Indian Army inside its cantonment in Guwahati which is next to the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary.
The bed of metallic spikes was laid down to prevent wild elephants from destroying food stock. These spikes that have been placed outside the periphery of a major supply depot of the Army cantonment since 2003 have injured many elephants and might have even been the cause of death for at least two other wild elephants in the area, according to forest officials. However, the army has denied that the spikes have killed any elephants.
The army has mentioned that a recent order has been passed to remove it.
According to a report by the Indian Express, a male elephant of the Amchang wildlife sanctuary was found dead. Based on the veterinary doctor’s report, the elephant died of septicaemia caused by a wound in its leg. The injury could in all possibility be a wound caused by the spikes.
