The discovery of a wild elephant carcass in deep forests close to the Malampuzha dam has brought attention to the death of elephants hit by trains on the Walayar-Kanjikode stretch between Palakkad and Coimbatore.
While forest officials claim that the elephant died after it was caught in floodwaters, environmental activists say no rain capable of washing away an elephant was witnessed in the region since the onset of monsoon and the elephant was the one hit by a train two years ago.
In the absence of efforts to treat the elephant, it was moving around the locality with grievous injuries. If it was given timely treatment, the elephant could have been saved, they said.
“The rail stretch at Walayar has turned into a death trap with 25 elephants killed in the past ten years. No firm measure has been taken to arrest the trend,” says S. Guruvayurappan, project officer and South India coordinator of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.
He said there was solid evidence to prove that the dead elephant was the one that was hit by a train near Kanjikode two years ago.
A forest watcher found the mutilated body of the animal on Tuesday evening about 20 km from Chakkolas Estate. As the tusks were not removed, authorities ruled out the possibility of poaching.
The veterinary surgeon who conducted the autopsy on Wednesday opined it may be a case of death after getting caught in floodwaters.
“It was the lackadaisical attitude of the Forest Department that led to the death of the elephant. After it was injured, the animal was always found close to the Malampuzha dam. It used to enter the reservoir to get relief from the festering wounds. In the beginning, the authorities said they provided it medicine concealing it in bananas. Later, they said they administered injections using toy guns,” says environmentalist P.S. Panicker.
“They finally said no treatment can save the elephant which was badly injured,” he adds.
Trains plying on the Coimbatore-Palakkad route now run at 30 km per hour in the Walayar area during daytime and below 25 km at night to avoid hitting elephants.
Many measures to keep the jumbos off the tracks have failed. Electric fences erected on both sides of the tracks along the 20-km Madukarai-Walayar stretch have been ineffective as elephants pulled them down during power shutdown.
Lack of maintenance of the fences has also contributed to the situation.
