NILGIRIS: Cheran, a 40-year-old camp elephant attached to the Abharanyam elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, died on Wednesday morning, leaving tribal caretakers, forest staff, and animal lovers in deep sorrow.
According to sources, the elephant collapsed after developing shivers around 6 am. On noticing its deteriorating health, Cheran's mahout and kavadis informed the forest range officer, who immediately brought a veterinarian from Theppakadu Elephant Camp to examine the animal.
Despite efforts, Cheran was unable to stand and fell to the ground. Following the veterinarian's advice, staff and tribal members attempted to lift the elephant using a crane, but the animal did not respond.
"After more than two hours of treatment, the elephant failed to stand on its own and died at around 8.40 am," a forest department official said.
To ensure transparency, a postmortem was conducted by a team of five veterinarians, including former Joint Director of Animal Husbandry (Nilgiris) N S Manokaran, along with officials from the Animal Disease Intelligence Unit. The procedure was carried out in the presence of members from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, NGOs, and village representatives.
Forest officials clarified that Cheran did not die of any communicable disease, noting that other elephants in the camp are healthy and show no signs of illness.
M G Ganesan, Deputy Director of the reserve, stated that blood samples had been taken when Cheran showed signs of weakness a few weeks ago, but no abnormalities were found at the time. Though medication was administered to improve his immune system, the elephant's health deteriorated suddenly.
Preliminary findings suggest that internal organs may have been affected over a long period, possibly including liver cirrhosis. Officials suspect multiple factors could have contributed to the organ failure, such as dietary habits or internal injuries sustained during past interactions with wild elephants.
To determine the exact cause of death, organ samples have been sent for analysis to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), and the Advanced Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) in Chennai.
As a precautionary measure, the carcass was buried at a location away from the camp.