COIMBATORE: A 12-year-old tusker was found dead allegedly due to intestinal ulcer at Pethikuttai in Sirumugai forest range. The animal, unable to manage the pain, had reached near the Bhavani Sagar backwaters where it died, as the pachyderms, suspecting danger to his health, usually end their lives near the water source.
According to sources, though the animal was found dead three days ago, the carcass was noticed by the field level staff on Saturday morning. Subsequently, Sirumugai forest range officer K Manoj engaged with Veterinary Assistant Surgeons K Vijayaragavan of Wildlife Transit and Treatment Centre Pethikuttai and C Thiyagarajan of Kovanur (Animal Husbandry Department) to carry out the postmortem.
The animal's tusks were intact and during the postmortem the veterinarians noticed the ulcer symptom to the sub adult animal and said it could have happened when the animal consumed more fodder.
"The elephants can experience abdominal pain usually due to over-eating of fodder. However, most of them manage to deal with the pain but some don't," said a forest department official.
After postmortem, the animal carcass was left for scavengers such as leopard, dholes, wild boar, etc.
Meanwhile, a tusker that came out of TN Palayam forest in Sathyamangalam forest division in Erode district, and was roaming inside the villages in the surroundings of Kasipalayam, was successfully sent back inside the forest after a gap of 48 hours, early on Saturday.
The animal was spotted in Kasipalayam village, which is six kilometres from TN Palayam forest. The staff commenced an operation to drive back the animal. However, the animal crossed Bhavani river and took shelter inside the fully grown bushes. Despite using thermal drone cameras, the staff were unable to find the animal. On Friday, the animal was spotted at Kurumandur, a 12 km forest stretch, following which another operation began on Friday evening to drive the animal back inside the forest.
The animal, after crossing three important roads including Sathymangalam to Gobichettipalayam road along with Bhavani River and Lower Bhavani Project Canal (LBP) was finally driven back near the TN Palayam forest at 1 am on Saturday without any injuries to humans as well as the animal. "Revenue, police, and TNEB cooperated through our operation which lasted 48 hours," a forest department official said.