COIMBATORE: Barely a month old female elephant calf was found dead at Sirumugai forest range in Coimbatore district in the western Tamil Nadu on Friday morning. This is the second elephant calf death reported in the Sirumugai forest range in the state in the last one week.
Forest department officials on patrolling duty found the carcass of the calf near Mokkai Medu at Lingapuram in Sirumugai Forest around 8 am and alerted the senior forest officials.
According to Manokaran, the forest range officer, the calf elephant could have been trampled to death by other elephants since a herd of 50 elephants was found moving nearby.
The autopsy that is likely to be completed later on Friday and will throw more light on the cause of the death.
Last week, on October 29, an elephant calf, reportedly by its herd in the Sirumugai forest range, died at the Theppakkadu elephant camp, where it was taken by the forest department for treatment for diarrhea.