Lakhimpur Kheri, May 15 (IANS): A fully grown-up wild male elephant has been found dead at the Dudhwa National Park (DNP) in Uttar Pradesh -- the second tusker casualty of this year in the region.

On Sunday, patrolling teams sighted the carcass of the tusker in the Belaghat forests under Sathiyana range.

They informed the deputy field director Rengaraju T, who apprised the field director B. Prabhakar of the incident for further procedure.

Several puncture wounds were visible on the carcass, indicating fight with some other wild elephant.

Prabhakar said: "Post-mortem done by veterinary officer Baburam Verma, Dudhwa wild veterinary experts Daya Shankar and Deepak Verma has established 'infighting among animals led to rib cage rupture, heart puncture and circulatory system failure (Syncope)' which caused the death."

He added the age of the deceased tusker was estimated around 15 years.

Preliminary observations and circumstantial evidence also indicated infighting among the wild elephants to be the cause of death, said Prabhakar.

He added that a few days ago, a herd of over three dozen elephants had been sighted roaming around in the area.

On April 19, a female wild elephant was found dead in south Sonaripur range forests of the park.

The post-mortem report had established infection in the uterus to be the cause of death.