COIMBATORE: A one-and-a-half year old male elephant died at a coffee field at Kurangu Mudi estate in Valparai on Monday morning after mistakenly swallowing mud while trying to have plants. Post mortem couldn’t be carried out for hours on account of the presence of 18 wild elephants including its mother around the carcass.
According to sources, acting on an information from the estate authorities, forest officials in the company of a government veterinarian Senthil Nathan visited the spot at 2 pm to carry out autopsy on the animal. But as the death of the jumbo was being mourned by fellow elephants, they couldn’t execute the task. Finally, a team of 12 forest staff drove the elephants into the forest, which enabled Nathan to perform the post mortem.
“The calf died due to a digestion problem. The animal unexpectedly swallowed sand while attempting to take plants as food. This was discovered by the veterinary doctor, who found huge quantities of sand filled in the animal’s stomach,” said Krishnasamy, forest range officer. He added that there were marks in the body of the pachyderm indicating that the animal had rolled down from a height in the forest. He said that the trumpeting sound of wild elephants could be heard while the autopsy was being carried out.
It was presumed that the animal had died in the wee hours of Monday as the blood samples taken by the veterinary doctor was found to be fresh.
Meanwhile, a few forest staff of Pollachi forest range searched, for two days, the maize fields in the surroundings of Perumalswamy Malai near Anamalai after being informed about the appearance of a bear near residential houses. They, finally, dismissed the info as rumour.