Foresters in Jhargram spotted the carcass of a female elephant from a field under Bandarbhola forest beat on Wednesday morning.

A forester said that the elephant aged around 10-11 years was part of the herd currently staying in Jhargram.

The district currently has over 100 elephants stationed in it.

"We have recovered the carcass of the elephant and sent it for post-mortem. The reason for death will be known only after its report comes," said Pankaj Suryawanshi, the divisional forest officer of Jhargram.

A senior forester, however, said that preliminary investigation on Wednesday revealed the elephant could have died after getting electrocuted by live wire fencing installed by farmers to ward off elephants.

"We are planning to start a specific case in connection with the death if the final (post-mortem) report suggests that the animal was electrocuted," said the forest official.

The practice of planting live electric wire by farmers around fields to prevent elephants from damaging crops is not new in Jungle Mahal.

The forest department conducts regular campaigns for villagers, requesting them not to put up such life-threatening electrical fencing for elephants.

After the news of the elephant's death spread on Wednesday morning, over 1,000 villagers gathered to catch a glimpse of the carcass.

A large number of people were seen taking pictures and selfies with the carcass.

The villagers alleged that elephants had been damaging their fields for the past few days.

"The elephants have been raiding our village and damaging our crops every night in search of food. We had already informed the foresters about this. It is unfortunate that a carcass of an elephant was found near a field today (Wednesday)," said Priyaranjan Mahato, one of the villagers.

A forester said that they had been working with minimal workforce for some time and thus struggling hard to manage human-animal conflict in the area.

"There is a shortage of at least 37 per cent of forest staff and half of our existing employees is aged over 50. Amid such a crisis, we are trying our best to manage all the issues related to human-elephant conflict," said a forest official.