COIMBATORE: Gudalur forest department staff and veterinarian were unable to approach the carcass of the calf elephant, which died in a swamp, to perform postmortem examination for the second consecutive day, as a herd of elephants guarded the spot.
Sources said that since Saturday night, as many as ten elephants joined the two cow elephants near the Gudalur Thaluk Muslim Orphanage located between Gudalur to Sulthan Bathery road.
Speaking to Express, forest sources said that they had planned to conduct the postmortem examination on Sunday hoping that the adult elephants would leave the spot, but their plan did not succeed. “We suspect that the incessant rain could prevented foul smell emanating from the carcass. We have not taken efforts to go near the carcass due to rain. We will be performing postmortem examination to know the age and sex only when the herd of elephants leave the spot.”
Commenting on the elephants behaviour, K Kalidass of Osai, an NGO, said that not only cow elephants, but the entire herd of elephants are closely usually attached with a calf. Unable to bear the loss, the animals are showing social bonding and are roaming near the carcass, he said, adding that there were incidents of cow elephants holding deceased calf in their trunks. The calf died after getting caught in a swamp when the animal, along with two cow elephants came to quench their thirst.