A female elephant, estimated to be about 20-years old, was found dead at the bottom of a hillock at Vadivelampalayam close to the reserve forest in the Karadimalai section of Madukkarai Range (Coimbatore District) during the late hours of Tuesday.
The elephant could have died on Monday and was noticed by the anti-poaching watchers on Tuesday. It was a member of a herd of 13 elephants that were roaming about in that region.
District Forest Officer S. Ramasubramanian, who visited the place, said the animal could have died by accidentally falling off the steep and rocky hillock, as some of its internal organs had spilled out.
The cause of death could be ascertained after the post mortem, on Wednesday.
Forest veterinarian N.S. Manoharan, Madukkarai Ranger M. Senthil and NGO representatives also visited the spot. A post- mortem could not be conducted on Tuesday as it was dark and the herd was nearby.
Meanwhile, in Tirupur District, the report on the autopsy conducted on a nearly 40-year-old male elephant that died in forest under Amaravathi Range on September 15 revealed that the death was primarily due to severe infection of the wounds sustained on the back and hind foot of the animal and subsequent starvation.
“The post-mortem report shows that the stomach was literally empty with only small quantity of water.
This means, it did not take fodder for few days prior to death which is usual in the case of elephants suffer from wounds and pain”, Forest Ranger ThangarajPaneerselvam told The Hindu .
On the infections, Mr. Paneerselvam said the wound on its back was found to be six inch deep and looked to have been caused by a hit from the tusk of another male elephant.
The hind foot wound had 200 ml of pus at the outer layer itself, which might have been caused by hitting against roots of heavy substance while on move, he added.
District Forest Officer A. Periayasamy had already ruled out any poaching attempt as the elephant, which came from Kerala side, did not have tusk.
