THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The forest department rescued and provided adequate medical aid to a hapless wild elephant which had run amok and strayed into residential areas after its trunk got partially cut off. For the past four days, the jumbo had been barging into plantations and estates. The elephant had been surviving on bananas and other crops that it could hold by its mouth, instead of using its trunk that had been nearly cut off one foot from its tip.
"The elephant was spreading terror in the region and was also famished," a senior forest official said. When the department was informed that the animal had strayed out of the core forest area again, a team lead by conservator of forests (high range), Kottayam circle, tranquilized it and conducted a two-hour surgery on the trunk.
"The part of the trunk that had been dangling was cut and medicines were applied. We hope it heals soon and that the elephant returns to the wild," a senior forest official said.
Officials have not ruled out the possibility of man-made torture and believe the trunk may have been cut by a sharp object when it entered some estate land bordering forests.
This year alone, 198 wild elephants died owing to various reasons, including old age, poaching, electrocution and injuries sustained while trying to enter plantations bordering the forest area.
The elephant population in the state has been on the rise in the last 18 years, increasing from 4,286 to 7,490 between 1993 to 2011.
Environmentalists point out that wild elephants have been on the receiving end of poachers and forest land encroachers who have been destroying wildlife corridors.
Around 5,500 hectares of encroached forest land are yet to be acquired by the forest department.
