MADIKERI: Three elephants, including a calf, were found dead in a coffee estate at Nalkeri village of Virajpet taluk , about 2 km from Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, on Thursday. Forest Department sources said while the mother elephant, aged about 35, and its five-month-old calf were found dead side by side, another male elephant, aged around 25, was lying dead in a pond half a km away — all in a coffee estate belonging to one Vijay.
Thithimathi ACF Sripathi said prima facie it appeared that the mother elephant could have died due to internal haemorrhage. He said there were two wounds on its body, but they did not turn out to be bullet injuries as revealed by the post-mortem.
He said viscera samples will be sent to a lab in Hyderabad to know the cause of death. He said the calf might have died after its mother fell on it. The third elephant, it is suspected, might have died after getting stuck in the slush in the pond.
Jumbo rescued
A 35-year-old elephant, which was stuck in the slush of a lake in a coffee estate at Rangasamudra near Kushalnagar, was rescued by forest officials using two tamed elephants on Thursday. A herd from Meenukolli forest had raided the farm of one Jayaprakash on Wednesday. While other elephants left, one got stuck in the lake.