Its carcass was cut into pieces and strewn into the lake to avoid the wrath of forest department as the animal had been electrocuted. Officials later went to arrest the farmer, found him absconding.

Two weeks earlier, on October 5 at Alathur village another tusker was electrocuted. One more fully grown male succumbed to death in a similar fashion at Bhoothanahalli hardly three kms from Bannerghatta National Park.

These three incidents of elephant deaths in the month of October might be dismissed considering the ‘small’ number. But for the elephant experts, it is a grim situation as over 250 elephants (about 100 of them tuskers) have succumbed to death between 2004 and 2008 (22 poached, 50 electrocuted and over 200 of natural causes). The deaths have also led to a wide gap in male female ratio in the Southern region. Dr A J T John Singh, former dean faculty wildlife sciences, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun expressed his concern over the killing fields and the rampant poaching in the state. “It will indeed lead to a wide gap in male female ratio, because only about a little more than 1,000 adult tuskers are left among the population of over 25,000 elephant population. The days of tuskers are numbered, we need to start a ‘save tusker project’ to prevent this," he said.

Dr Singh said that if the killing continues, the situation could get really serious since the population of even Makhanas (male elephants without tusks) was low compared to the North Eastern regions of the country.

Poaching took heavy toll

Ajay A Desai, an elephant expert working in Bandipur, Mudhumalai, Nagarhole and other places said the initial days of poaching since 80s and 90s by the forest brigand Veerappan had taken a heavy toll on the number of elephants. This was followed by other poachers in the late nineties and after Veerappan’s death in 2005. “The male-female ratio was about 1:4 in 1980s in Niligiris region, but today it might be 1:10 in Mudhumalai, but slightly better in Bandipur and Nagarhole,” he said.

“Normally the male adult was found mating, but now even the bulls right from the age of about 20 years are found in the reproductive act. This definitely shows a decline in male population,” he explained. “The government should understand the seriousness and sit and talk to protect the pachyderms.”

According to statistics from the CID Forest Cell, 22 tuskers were killed by the poachers between 2004 and 2007 for their tusk values by poachers, while 34 tuskers were electrocuted and 203 were said to have died of natural causes. More than half of the dead elephants were tuskers, according to the CID Forest Cell.

Besides, an estimated 60 elephants were electrocuted in Bandipur and Nagarahole national park regions upto November 5 this year. Of these, 16 were tuskers.