Palakkad: A 40-year-old wild tusker, which was tranquillised and treated for a suspected bullet injury and let off into the forest on Friday was found dead in the Attapadi forests near Kerala-Tamil Nadu border on Saturday. Police suspect the elephant was shot by poachers.
"The wound was deep and infected. It had damaged the elephant's shoulder bone," said Dr ShajiPanikkassery, senior veterinary surgeon of Mannarkkad who conducted the jumbo's post-mortem.
"The elephant died of septicaemia of the body because of the wound. There was only one injury on its body which must have been caused by a bullet. But we could not recover any bullet," Dr Shaji added.
Forest officials also suspect that someone had shot the elephant with an unlicensed gun. Many farmers in areas near the Mannarkkad-Attappadi belt are known to possess such guns.
Meanwhile the secretary of the Heritage Animal Task Force V K Venkitachalam, in a petition to the director of Project Elephant, the Union ministry of forest and environment and the secretary, Animal Welfare Board, said: "The elephant died of suspected bullet injury. The seriously wounded elephant was moving along the Agali forests of Attapadi for several days. It could be a case of poaching. This was the third such incident in a gap of five days."
