A tusker fainted and died at 14th Mile in Kottayam on Sunday morning. It is reported that the elephant died as soon as it fell to the ground.
Erumeli forest range officer Shantry Tom told ‘Express’ that the deceased elephant was owned by Babu from Thottakad, who owns several elephants.
“The exact reason for the death of the animal is not known.
A team of forest officers led by senior veterinary surgeon Sasidhra Dev have initiated proceedings for a postmortem examination.
“We have got information that the pachyderm was kept at 14th Mile where the incident happened.
The age of the elephant named Sreenivasan is about 50 years,” he said.
This is the second such death reported within the last two weeks in the Erumeli range which covers Thottakadu as well.
Elephant Lovers Cry Foul
“To keep tusks, the person in-charge of the animal should possess an ownership certificate. “But most of the so-called elephant owners in the state do not have any ownership certificate, which means the elephant was bought through unauthorised means.
More than 80 elephants have died in Kerala in the last one-and-a-half-years. This year more than 20 elephants have died.
Elephants are not given proper care and are made to work relentlessly by their owners.
If the elephant has no certificate, the animal is buried without informing forest officials and tusks are sold in the black market.
A kilogram of elephant tusk costs `15,000 in the black market. The owner will also get `6 lakh in insurance money,” V K Venkatachalam, secretary, the Heritage Animal Task Force, told ‘Express’.
Venkatachalam added that proper inquiry needs to be done to unearth the reasons behind the untimely death of elephants, as the average life span of a pachyderm is about 80 to 82 years.