A wild elephant was found dead in Sundar Haraicha Municipality-6 of Morang district on Wednesday.

The body of the male pachyderm, thought to be around 6 to 7 years of age, was recovered from the banana field of local Bhakta Raj Limbu at around 6am, police said.

According to Amrit Bilas Pant, head of Salakpur sub-divisional forest office, how the elephant wandered off into human settlement alone and the reason for its death is not yet known.

Minor injuries have been found near the animal’s trunk, Pant added.

Further investigation is underway.

Earlier this year, another wild elephant was also found dead with gunshot wounds on its front leg and neck at Janajagaran Community Forest in ward 10 of the same municipality.