ERODE: A 35-year-old female elephant died hours after falling into a 5-foot-deep trench on the forest fringes in the Kadambur Hills in Erode district. A team of veterinarians had tried to treat it but it lost its life late on Monday.
It is suspected the elephant came out of the forest in search of water. It likely slipped and fell into the trench dug to curb the movement of wild elephants out of the forest. A few residents of Kurumbur village found the elephant lying in a trench adjacent to a private farm on Monday morning. The villagers then informed the Forest Department.
“The elephant was found unconscious. It was very weak too. The veterinarians immediately started treating the elephant. After a few hours of treatment, the officials tried to make the elephant walk with the aid of machinery but that plan did not work out. So we treated it continuously till Monday evening,” said sources.
Sathyamangalam Divisional Forest Officer Yogesh Kulal said, “Despite our best efforts to treat the female elephant and support her to stand, she couldsnot stand, suggesting possible injury to spinal cord. She succumbed to her injuries.”
“We have arranged a postmortem early morning on Tuesday as per the Tamil Nadu Elephant Death Audit Framework (EDAF) to know the exact cause of death.”
Earlier STR field director K Rajkumar, said, “The female elephant was found early on Monday morning. The elephant was around 35 years old. It might have come out of the forest in search of water on Sunday night even though tanks at certain places inside the forest are filled with water by the Forest Department.”