COIMBATORE: A male elephant, believed to be five years old was found dead in Pethikuttai in the Sirumugai forest range. A post-mortem examination revealed that the animal died due to hepatitis.
Field-level staff spotted the carcass during patrolling on Monday.
On Tuesday, A Sukumar Coimbatore Forest Veterinarian and Thiyagarajan veterinarian of the Animal Husbandry department of Sirumugai carried out a postmortem in the presence of M Senthil Kumar Assistant Conservator of forests (ACF).
"The animal's stomach was empty and there was no dung in the rectum. This indicates that the elephant did not have food for a few days before death. Some undigested food was found in his large intestine. Heart and lung are congested and the main cause of the death is the tumour with puss in its liver. The animal died due to hepatitis with miliary abscess, " said the official. The animal could have died 24 to 32 hours ago, he added.
Organ samples were lifted and they will be sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Uttar Pradesh to check whether the animal had bacterial or virus infection. Samples will also be sent to Madras veterinary University for histopathology analysis and as well as to the Advanced Institute for Wildlife Conservation in Chennai for DNA profiling, said officials.
This is the third elephant death in Coimbatore forest division in two months this year. One elephant died in Boluvampatti and another one in Periyanacikenpalayam forest range in 2023. As many as 19 wild elephants died in Coimbatore division last year in which eight were in Coimbatore forest range and six deaths were in Sirumugai forest range.