TIRUNELVELI: The carcass of a 15-year-old female elephant, with an infected mouth and esophagus, was found on a farmland near Kallidaikurichi on Wednesday morning. It was 10-12 months pregnant and severely malnourished.
The cow elephant was seen roaming in regions abutting the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) forest region in the past few days, and farmers had informed the forest officials about it.
According to Deputy Director (DD) of KMTR (Ambasamudram Division) Kommu Omkaram, a team of forest personnel had tried in vain to feed the cow elephant with food mixed with medicine.
On Wednesday morning, a resident of South Pappankulam found its carcass on his farmland. The DD and a team of forest rangers inspected the carcass and transported it to the Manimuthar forest region. The postmortem revealed that the elephant had infection in its mouth and throughout the esophagus, rendering it unable to consume food.
Moreover, the animal had had diarrhea as a result of its having consumed a large number of palm fruits. The male foetus inside the elephant died along with its mother. The postmortem was performed by veterinarian Manoharan, and professor of Tirunelveli Veterinary College and Research Institute Bashir in the presence of environmentalist Mathivanan.
The carcass was buried later. Kommu Omkaram said that a few elephants were seen roaming in the region for the past few days and that forest officials were engaged in chasing them back to the forest.