COIMBATORE: A crop raider makhna elephant aged 35 years that was captured thrice within six months this year was found dead in the Pollachi forest range on Sunday evening. A field-level forest department patrol team found the carcass at 3 pm in Nagamalai forest. The animal’s radio collar was intact, sources said.
S Ramasubramanian conservator of forests and field director of Anamalai tiger reserve (ATR) said the animal might have died after slipping down from a rocky cliff. The forest department first captured and relocated the animal to Varagaliyar from Dharmapuri in February.
It came out of the forest and reached Perur near Coimbatore city after walking close to 90 km. It was captured and released in Manombolly forest for the second time. But the animal managed to come out of the forest and reached Saralapathy from where it was captured for the third time and released at Chinnakallar on July 31.
K Bhargava Teja, deputy director of ATR, ruled out foul play in the elephant’s death and said it had been healthy and adapted to its mew surroundings since it was released in July. He told TNIE that they had sent our a team to trace the animal as there was no signal from the radio collar in the last two days. Post mortem examination will be done on Monday.